


All beginnings are difficult

by Laverne



Series: Chronicles of Zootopia [1]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, F/M, Family Issues, First Dance, First Kiss, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-14 11:18:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 60,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7168916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laverne/pseuds/Laverne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starting near the end of the movie, we are introduced to the relationship Nick and Judy are starting to begin. But even now a relationship between predator and prey, especially natural enemies like fox and rabbit, is nothing too common. Not in Zootopia, and especially not on the country-side like Bunnyburrow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The whole series is also made available as an [audio drama on YouTube](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio), releasing a new chapter each week!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](https://youtu.be/bB-1V5Q3_xo?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)
> 
> ### This chapter is also available as an _[audio drama on YouTube!](https://youtu.be/bB-1V5Q3_xo?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)_

It was a bureaucratic nightmare to deal with: You cannot hand in one's notice and come back to work a few months later as if nothing happened. Nevertheless, Judy Hopps would not be Judy if she ate humble pie and eventually Chief Bogo was glad that he got a competent officer back on duty. Getting Nick Wilde's shady background out of the way so that he could attend the Police Academy was another headache for the Chief. However, even if he wouldn't admit it openly, Bogo was quite pleased and even a little impressed by Judy and Nick's success and the night howler case was finally solved.

In the first month after her reinstatement Judy had to give more than a few interviews to reporters and even had to hold some public speeches, much to her dislike; but Bogo had made it plain to her, that she had to go along with it to please the new governing mayor – a Rhino named Scalemayer. In the meantime, Nick had a hard time at the Academy. He was a predator and granted he was a little bigger than Judy, but the physical training was hard and incomparable to anything he had to achieve while living his comfortable life as a Conmammal. No matter how hard the day was though, he always found time to have a phone call with Judy in the evening.

It started with a few texts here and there, ' _Hey carrots, how was your day?_ ', ' _I should never have doubted you regarding how hard the academy is_ ', accompanied with pictures of some injuries Nick had sustained or ' _I hate this attention, I'm a real cop not a token bunny!_ ' when another day with interviews had passed for Judy. It didn't take long and in lieu of texts they had some muzzle time and after a few months it was a fixed routine: They texted each other in the morning and in the evening they had a video call for at least an hour during which Judy often helped Nick with learning some of the theory. Of course, this was not unnoticed by Nick's comrades at his bedder, but Nick's sly grin never faded and he was never tired of telling them that she was only helping him to learn.

Judy on the other hand found herself a new small apartment; her old one wasn't free anymore when she returned to Zootopia. It was as small as her old one, but at least Bucky and Pronk weren't a problem anymore, so she could have her muzzle time in the evening with Nick without interruptions through a paper-thin wall. Of course, she was going out from time to time in her spare time, mostly with a few colleagues like McHorn, Fangmeyer or Clawhauser. Dealing with the press was dreadful but at least the case gained her a lot of reputation within the precinct and finally quite some friends. She even took the time to visit her goddaughter 'Judy' at Mr. Big's house, Fru Fru always happily welcoming her. Nick took a screenshot of her while on muzzle time when Judy had little Judy in her paw and this very special smile on her face while fondling with the little mouse-kit.

It is hard to tell when their relationship as friends turned into something more, some intimacy had crept into their calls and texts gradually and Judy as well as Nick felt somewhat uncomfortable when a regular call went off due to Judy working overtime or Nick dozing off over his books. However, neither of them was willing to say something about it, resulting in a few awkwardly silent moments on the phone.

Finally, Nick got his degree at the Academy after ten months of hard work. Though, it was worth all the blood, sweat and tears it cost him when he saw Judy smiling proudly at him while clipping his police badge to his uniform at the ceremony. It was a big surprise to him that she was the one delivering the graduating speech, she had never told him during their calls. Moreover, another surprise was waiting when she disclosed to him that they would start being partners on the force the next day.

* * *

**_About a week later, after the Gazelle concert, in the Hollow-Bar_ **

"…Thank you all sooooo much!" exclaimed Clawhauser enthusiastically, nearly tearing up. Every colleague of the precinct had pooled money to buy VIP tickets as Clawhauser's birthday present, including a backstage tour and a get-together with Zootopia's Pop-Star. Now most of them met at the Hollow Bar and Clawhauser thanked everybody in person with a bone-crushing hug repeatedly. As every Friday and Saturday, a live cover band was playing on stage; quite a lot of people were attending the bar at this late hour, half of them colleagues of Clawhauser. Judy and Nick had tickets for the concert, too, so had Bogo. However, Clawhauser was the only one with the VIP tour and currently he was telling everyone again about every bit of it.

"I bet he will never wash his face again where Gazelle kissed him on the cheek", Fangmeyer winked and raised his glass to take another sip. McHorn and Judy agreed laughing and even Bogo seemed to grin at the thought of it.

"As long as he will remove the lipstick, it's not quite suitable with his fur color…" he hummed and took a big swallow of his beer.

"Thank you, cute little bunny!" it was Judy's turn again to be thanked while Clawhauser raised her from her feet and hugged her from behind. She protested grumbling – ' _Don't call me cute!_ ' – and kicking was totally ignored and all close colleagues laughed at the strange sight of her struggling in the cheetah's arms. When he finally let her and go she gave him a sweeping glance, he did one-step in Bogo's direction. The buffalo straighten up with a death stare but Clawhauser was already too drunk and tried to hug him, too, resulting in even louder laughter and backslapping.

In the background, the band started a new song, a guitar starting with a slow solo. Judy drained her second drink this evening and was feeling a little bit dizzy. But then again she was having a great time and she enjoyed having some time together with Nick, too. Speaking of… she looked around the bar. There were less people at this late hour now but she could see no sign of him. She approached Clawhauser who immediately returned to her.

"Heyyyy cutie! (totally ignoring her complaining look) Everything all right?"

"Yeah, I hope everything's alright with you too! Did you see Nick? You should have a better overview than m…." she stopped in the middle of the sentence when the oh-so-familiar-voice of the fox started to sing right on stage beside the Jaguar playing the guitar. ( _YouTube "cncoJB_C-m0"_ )

" _The world was on fire and no-one could save me but you. It's strange what desire will make foolish people do. I'd never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you. And I'd never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you_ ".

Judy's ears went straight up and turned toward the small stage, her nose twitching mildly. The Jaguar that played the guitar was right in the middle, playing. On a bar stool Nick sat, a microphone in his paws and a spot aimed at him. His voice was soft but the words were accented spot-on to accompany the guitar sounds, looking to the floor.

" _What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way. What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you. What a wicked thing to say, you never felt that way. What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you_ ".

Judy was thrilled, her hackles rose, and she slowly struggled through the crowd of people to get nearer to the stage. Her eyes were big and her arms were embracing herself, keeping her head a bit askew, slowly swaying to the music. She didn't even know that Nick was such a great singer and she felt this slightly uncomfortable but warm feeling around her chest again. It was irritating to her but she pushed it away to listen attentively.

After the guitar solo, Nick stood up from the bar stool, turned his head slightly to the side and looked directly in her direction. Judy felt her knees getting soft when he began with the last verse of the song, this time slowly approaching her, never taking his eyes from her.

"I'd never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you.  
And I'd never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you.  
No, I don't wanna fall in love… with you."

He was standing at arm's length, finishing the song: "Nobody loves no one." – the spot went off, befogging the Jaguar and Nick and people starting to applause. Judy could not clap her hands, her mouth was slight open and felt dry like she had not drank for days, slowly blinking. Her heart was nearly palpitating and she was sure her greyish fur was red to the top of her ears. It took a few moments before she realized Nick was standing beside her.

"Hey fluff, sorry I had withdrawn but I promised Francine to sing a song together with the band. Hope it wasn't too bad, was it?" His sly grin was all set albeit somewhat softer than usual.

"Not too bad? Cheese and crackers, you're a wonderful singer Nick! Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I don't really sing that often anymore. My mom wanted me to learn an instrument and so I learned to play the guitar as a young fox, and before I became the great Conmammal that I was, I played and sang in the streets for a few bucks… nothing wild here. But I'm glad you liked it, Judy…" While speaking the band had started with their next song and like it is the normal thing to do, Nick grabbed Judy's paws and they very slowly danced together. ( _YouTube "QJzGtzGydtQ"_ )

It was not until the first refrain when Nick mentioned her real name instead of a nickname that Judy realized that they were actually dancing, her feet on autopilot. Nick immediately realized her slightly different voice.

"I ... loved it, you… really have a … sonorous voice…" – he smiled softly, his paws holding hers and dancing along to the music. "Sly Fox…"

"Dancer Bunny..." he spun her around and picked her up again with his paws, this time with even more physical contact.

Judy felt how her face and ears must have turned into carrot orange at least, but leaned her head onto Nicks chest enjoying their dance. They weren't really dancing; just stepping from one side to the other while snuggling against each other. All other Mammals vanished from their mind; it was as if they were the only two mammals there with the music coming out of nowhere.

The Jaguar finished a great guitar solo and the small otter front-singer started again:

" _Go cry about it, why don't you? My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room. Don't you think we oughta know by now? Don't you think we should have learned somehow?_ "

As the light on stage went off with the last beats, there was loud applause again; obeyed from glee whistles and some distant calls. She felt hot and her heart was beating fiercely. Her eyes closed, and her lips pressed against Nicks, deeply kissing him. It was only after a minute or two, that they slowly opened their eyes again and discerned their environment. Nearly everyone left in the Bar was looking and cheering at them. She could not decide if she felt more heat in her head from embarrassment or because she just kissed Nick for the first time. Nick was the first one to comprise the situation and put his sly grin back on. However, this time it seemed much warmer and softer to Judy. He nudged her twitching nose with his and whispered quietly:

"Everything ok, Judy…?"

She couldn't say anything at that moment, but her big eyes and the slightly coy but happy smile on her face was everything he needed for an answer now. Judy placed her arms around his hip and cuddled her still hot-feeling head onto his side.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Sean Dalglish for his review and proofreading this chapter! (Jan 2017)


	2. Set-Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Judy had an all-night party, but a new case is queued up for them. And the new case isn't the only thing they have to deal with today...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](https://youtu.be/esCUO3RhqVo?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)
> 
> ### This chapter is also available as an _[audio drama on YouTube!](https://youtu.be/esCUO3RhqVo?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)_

There is a phrase that time flies when you are having fun; based on the fact that Nick and Judy sat on a park bench, after the Hollow Bar closed at two in the morning, and were still sitting there, arm in arm when the sun rose again shortly after six o'clock, they really had a great time. Judy had cuddled up to Nick and his thick tail was enwrapping her when she got a little bit cold. Her ears leaned against her head.

"Since when?" Judy asked him casually, tickling her paws along his cheek.

"Hmm?" Nick hummed moony and Judy twitched lightly on his whiskers.

"Dumb fox.", she replied but he smirked somewhat. "Since when?" she asked again after a while. Her voice was quiet and gentle.

Still dreamily, Nick answered slowly: "You know, I started to like you while we were still on the Nighthowler case." He turned his head slowly in her direction and their looks met. "But I knew I met someone special after I couldn't get you out of my head while I was at the academy. That's never happened before…"

Judy got teary-eyed and gave him a big, happy smile. "And still you didn't say a word until tonight?"

"To be accurate, I didn't tell you anything but just sang a song. About not wanting to fall in love with … someone." Nicks sly grin was back in place and he winked. "I just wanted to dance with the most beautiful lady in the bar and you decided to ki…OUCH!"

Judy beat him with her fist on the shoulder and wrinkled her nose. "Dumb fox!" Nick caressed one paw over her cheek and reached behind her head, his thumb stroking the point where her ear approached her head.

"Beautiful Bunny…" he whispered and leaned in to kiss her affectionately. Judy closed her eyes and responded to his kiss. "You know; you love me…"

"Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do." She winked back to him. "But I also know that we're starting work in less than two hours." Judy groaned out suddenly. Almost grudging she detached herself from Nick and outstretched with a sudden realization of how tired she was.

Nick stretched himself; sitting on a wooden bench all night wasn't very comfortable after a while, and now that Judy wasn't leaning against him he felt the chill morning breeze. "Giving Bogo a notice of being ill is beyond question, right?" he sighed.

Judy squinted her eyes: "They all saw us last night together, nobody would believe this, Bogo less than ever!"

"All right, Officer Fluff… I know the perfect place to get a strong espresso and some breakfast." Nick said.

"Okay, and when we get to the precinct early we can take a hot shower", Judy clasped her mouth with both paws after she realized what her suggestion sounded like and Nick was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "I … I mean … we… you...", Judy swore her ears must be orange like carrots right now.

"I know exactly what you mean, carrots." Nick winked at her and they both started to walk, heading to one of the small French Cafés near the precinct.

* * *

Judy's paws rested against the tiled wall of the shower, her head and ears dropped down and the hot and steamy water poured over them and her back. She felt tired; since visiting the academy, she had not had an all-nighter. But she also felt some butterflies in her stomach. Last night with Nick came as a surprise to a certain degree. Dating was never one of her top priorities, she always had her high-goal set with the Police Academy and there was little to no room for romantic relationships, and even after reaching her goal she didn't miss it, because she always had Nick since then. He was her shoulder to cry on and the most common cause for her laugher. No, she did not miss being in a relationship because she already had one; even when it was not official or pronounced like that. Those things, plus the euphoric mood after the concert, plus Nick singing one of her favorite songs, plus slow dancing together. All of this lead to her kissing Nick right there on the dancefloor suddenly. It was not planned by her; it just felt like the right thing to do at that moment. And Nick returned her affection! She felt this tingly sensation in every part of her body while they kissed. Was this love?

* * *

Punctual as always Judy and Nick sat on their shared stool in the conference room. There was a lot of chitchat between all the colleagues. It was only when Chief Bogo entered the room that everyone went quiet. He seemed to be slightly hangover, or was that only Nicks imagination? Bogo snarled some quick notes about the upcoming day – nothing remarkable – and scheduled each pair of partner's todays district to patrol. ' _Yep, totally hangover._ ' Nick thought and a small grin crept onto his face. He and Judy just headed in direction of the door, when…

"Hopps! Wilde!" – the Chief didn't shout as loud as usual but it still had its daunting effect. "My office in five minutes." He snarled and headed through the backdoor.

There was just enough time for them to get a cup of poor, but hot, coffee from the vending machine in the foyer before they entered the Chief's office after knocking. Bogo sat in his chair, with his reading glasses on and with a case file in his hooves. Judy and Nick stood bolt upright in front of the desk and waited patiently.

After a minute or two, the buffalo put down the case file and his glasses: "There is something I have to discuss with you about yesterday evening." Nick felt somewhat nervous and he noticed from the corner of his eyes Judy twitching her nose slightly. Everything that happened yesterday between him and Judy came to him suddenly. He did not really think this through and considering what could happen afterwards they should not have kissed in front of all of those colleagues. After all, he was not sure if there was a rule against fraternization in the precinct or not. Moreover, he doubted that Judy would risk any disciplinary measures just for them to be together.

"Sir?" Nick asked, not recognizing his own voice.

Bogo did not seem to be all too happy to have this conversation in the first place either. He folded his hooves and his voice got somewhat … embarrassed? … when he started to talk again.

"I got a call from the Hollow Bar, nearly a dozen customers reported that their wallet or smartphones were stolen yesterday night." – What? This talk went into a complete different direction than Nick expected, and from her looks Judy was puzzled as well. Bogo handed the case file in front of him over to Judy. As she flipped it open the Chief continued.

"You two are going to investigate in this case. But keep things… quiet."

"What do you m…" Nick started, but was interrupted by Judy, pushing her elbow into his side. She was pointing on the first page with the list of claimants and what was stolen. It took a few seconds until Nick's bleary-eyed mind was capable of understanding. "Oh. I see." Chief Bogos name was also on the list, his own smartphone listed as stolen.

"We will take care of this immediately and be absolutely discreet." Judy assured him, closing the case file and sticking it under her arm.

The Chief nodded, waved his hand for them to leave and said "Dismissed."

Nick had no idea what the hell came over him when he asked: "And nothing about Officer Hopps and me?" Judy, who had already turned around and was walking to the door, froze to a halt.

"What are you talking about, Wilde?" the Chief snarled, not expecting to have a further conversation now. Judy was looking at Nick with big eyes, as if she was pleading him to discard the topic for now. But Nick seemed to be one brick short of a full load.

"I thought you also wanted to discuss the fact we were… _(Nick wanted to say "kissing" but bethought himself)_ fraternizing." The fox did not look back at Judy, but he could hear her paw clasping onto her face.

Bogo slowly stood up and rose to full-size. "Are you kidding me?" he barked.

Nick shook his head. "No, Sir."

"You are fired."

Nick wasn't sure what reaction he was expecting from the Chief, but this one took him by surprise. He stood there, his mouth slightly open, unable to answer.

"What?!" Judy's voice was nearly a screaming and Bogo squinted his eyes. "You cannot fire him for this! Are you joking?"

"Yes, I am." This time it was Judy that was took by surprise by the Chiefs answer and her tantrum got stuck in her throat.

"W… what?" it was Nick who got his voice back at first.

For a moment, there was a sly grin on Bogos face, but it immediately vanished again. "Do you still rely on your partner's best efforts, Officer Hopps?" Bogo asked, allocated to Judy.

She immediately nodded "Yes, sir."

"You too, Officer Wild?"

"Yes, of course, Sir!"

"Are you going to do your work professionally and without any doubtful private … activities within work-hours?"

This time they both answered concurrent: "Yes, Sir!"

"Then it's absolutely not of my interest what you two are going to do in your private time. As long as it is in your private time!" The buffalo emphasized the last sentence, sat down again and started to work on his computer. This time both Nick and Judy took the hint and disappeared through the door. Bogo grinned mildly after them with a shake of his head when the door clunk shut.

* * *

"Are you totally insane?" Judy blurted out the instant they sat down in their police rover.

Nick only shrugged his shoulders and smiled softly. "Everyone saw us yesterday night and eventually we had to talk about it with Bogo. So why not take advantage of the moment when he asks us for a favor". He winked and Judy rolled her eyes while driving off to the Hollow Bar.

"Yeah, and he totally caught us on the wrong foot. Nevertheless, I'm glad that this is out of our way". Judy blinked nervously. She was indeed glad about it. Out of all those rules she learned eagerly, those about fraternization were no big priority for her back then and she was not too sure if it is allowed or not. Meanwhile Nick was studying the case file with the reports of petty theft, and for the rest of their drive they only discussed a few leads and testimonies.

They arrived at the Hollow Bar shortly after, and asked the Deer currently washing glasses if they could speak to the manager. Just as the manager, a tired looking moose, appeared, Judy's phone went off. She exchanged looks with Nick and he nodded. Nick heard the ringtone stop while Judy was heading to a corner accepting the call.

"Are you the manager?" he asked the moose. The mammal nodded and shook hands with him.

"Mr. Olivert it is; are you here because of the theft?"

* * *

Judy was somewhat worried when her phone went off. It was the ringtone assigned to her parents and normally they only called in the evening and not during her shift. She excused herself and went to a more private corner of the bar to accept the call.

"Hey, Mom! Dad! How are you, is everything okay?"

"Hi darling! Yepp, everything is great. How are things in your neck of the wood?"

"Great so far! I'm a little tired, I didn't get much sleep last night, you know the Gazelle concert". This wasn't the complete truth, but no lie nonetheless.

"Oh! Right! How was it, dear?"

"Great! But I'm currently at work. Can we talk about it another time?"

"Oh! Oh, right! Of course! We just wanted to call you to ask, if we can meet up for dinner this evening? We were visiting your Uncle Phil and are on our way back. We have to change trains and thought we could meet in the meantime?"

Judy felt even more tired thinking about a dinner with her parents this evening, all of a sudden. However, her parents glanced back at her full of expectations, so there was no way for her to chicken-out. "Yeah" she smiled back at them, oppressing a sigh. "That would be really great! When does your train arrive? I will pick you up at the main station." She asked, rummaging in her pocket for a note and pen.

* * *

Judy encountered Nick and Mr. Olivert while Nick was repeating all the facts he had already noted so far: "So, last night was already the fourth time, that your guests were robbed. Those affected have always noticed the theft when leaving your Bar or after they were already home. They also asked, whether they maybe only lost the things and they were given off to you. On what days did the previous incidents happen?"

The moose nodded to Nicks report and then answered: "The last two Fridays and Saturdays. Our most popular evenings because of the live band."

"We need your video tapes of those cameras…" Judy spoke up, pointing to the camera behind the bar and near the entrance. Mister Olivert nodded again and turned around to go into his back office, leaving Judy and Nick alone for the time being.

"Everything okay, carrots?" Nick asked, turning around to Judy.

"Yeah, it's only my parents. They are popping around for a dinner this afternoon at half-past four."

"Popping around? They live almost 300 km away!"

"They've visited a few distant relatives, who live up in Canadaw; and they have to switch trains here in Zootopia, so…" Judy shrugged.

Nick couldn't say any more because the moose returned and handed Judy four discs, labeled with the dates in question. "Anything else I can do for you, officers?"

"That's all for now, thank you very much. We will come back to you with news as soon as possible." Nick answered. Mister Olivert shook their hands goodbye and went back to his office.

"We should visit a few pawnbrokers." Nick suggested when they both left the bar and got into their rover.

"And perhaps we should visit our friend Duke Weaselton." Judy added, starting the car. "Is he on probation again?"

Nick took the radio. "We will find out quickly. ( _activating the microphone_ ) Dispatch, this is Wilde and Hopps. Could you checkup the personal file of Duke Weaselton for his status and sign-in address? Over".

"Roger. Stand-by".

"Hey, Nick…?" Judy started and Nick turned his head.

"What's up, carrots?"

"About this dinner with my parents later…"

"Don't worry about it, I don't need to go with you. It's still pretty early, this…" he gesticulated with his paw between them "…we-thing between us."

"It is not that I would be ashamed of you, Nick! I really … ( _hesitating a bit_ ) …yes, I really love you!" she looked to him for a moment and was smiling brightly. "But you know, parents are pretty bossy when it comes to their daughters. And I would like to talk about them when there is a little more time and they aren't on the go, you know?" Judy spoke pretty fast, even for her, and Nick knew ... or rather smelled ... that Judy was really nervous about her parents. However, she just said for the first time, that she loves him – and not only like you say it to your good friend, but really loves him.

"It's okay, Judy..." him, mentioning her name, gave her butterflies in her stomach again. "We have all the time in the world."

"But you'd join me yet, or?" she asked after a short pause – a radio message came in so Nick only nodded and smiled as agreement.

"Dispatch for Wilde and Hopps. Duke Weaselton is on probation since Tuesday. Address is 194, Lexington Lane. Over."

"Roger, dispatch. Wilde and Hopps, over and out".

"So he cannot be our thief, but perhaps he knows something".

"After all, he is the Duke of the black market", Judy winked and drove off to Lexington Lane.

Their visit to Weaselton's address was a flop, being just a building lot for a new Pawmarkt. But at one of the pawn shops, they strike: They could secure a pocket watch, two older smartphones and a ring, all from the thefts last week. The shop owner couldn't help them much but they confiscated another two discs of videos. As Judy was driving into their parking spot Nick played up again:

"Did you make a reservation for two VIP seats and get us some popcorn, fluff?" his sly grin back on.

"I wish it was some entertaining videos, this will take us quite some time to look through all those videos".

Entering the precinct Clawhauser waved to them and both Judy and Nick approached his desk. "Ohhh my goodness! Our newest twosome is back in! What were you two up to yesterday evening?" the cheetah was grinning from ear-to-ear, simultaneously grabbing for a doughnut and offering both of them one, too.

Judy's ears dropped, and she was sure that she must be bright as a tomato right now. Nick however just grinned back at Clawhauser with his best con-mammal smirk and purred with a wink "A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets – just as the details of our evening". Judy was already on her way to the elevator and Nick followed suit, just ignoring Clawhauser's 'Ohhs' and 'Awws' for the moment. They went to the second floor and right to their shared cubicle. Nick started watching the video discs from the pawnshop and Judy with those from the Hollow Bar. Even in fast motion this would take quite a while…

* * *

"Get a move on, Nick!" Judy rushed past a group of other mammals, setting out for platform two where her parents train just arrived. She spotted them the instant they stepped out the train and waved to them.

"Jude the Dude! Good to see you!" her father called and Judy wrinkled her nose on the nickname while giving her mother a hug.

"Hello, my dear!" her mother greeted her and rubbed her chin against Judy's cheek to leave her maternal scent mark on her. Judy hugged her father, too, while Nick slowly joined the small group of rabbits.

"You must be Misses Hopps" he smiled at Judy's mother, taking a suggested bow.

"Officer Wilde! What a nice surprise, nice to finally meet you in person!" Bonnie smiled at Nick and Stu Hopps shook hands with Nick.

"Hello, Officer Wilde. Nice to see you" – Judy's father was friendly, but Nick also found him somewhat short-spoken. He met this kind of prejudice constantly and was used to it. Nevertheless, it was clear that it would be difficult to eventually tell them about his relationship with Judy. She however didn't seem to have noticed the subtle undertone, and was already going ahead.

They sat in a small Diner near the central station and placed their orders. Judy told her parents about the Gazelle concert last night and what a great show it was while Nick most of the time just leaned back in his chair, occasionally sipping his Coke. She went on telling a long rigmarole about their evening together at the Hollow Bar with many of their colleagues, and what a great gift the concert tickets were for her friend Clawhauser. Even Nick's impromptu singing – however, she didn't mention what song or for whom it was dedicated – was mentioned and it commanded Bonnies admiration.

"To play an instrument or even singing is such a wonderful talent to have. The vixen getting to marry you is to be envied". Judy's foot started to pad on the ground, but Nick did not stop smiling. A short stroke with his tail along Judy's leg, unnoticed by her parents, settled her instantly. He was just about to answer, when another rabbit approached their table.

"Judy? Is it really you?" The newcomer was tall for a rabbit, with black fur and a few white spots. He wore a business suit made of the finest silk. Judy sprung off her seat and flung her arms around the rabbits' neck.

"Vicky! It's been so long since we last met, I almost didn't recognize you!"

"I hope it is okay that we told Victor where we are having dinner. We heard he is on a business trip here in Zootopia, too, and it would be a shame if we had missed this opportunity to meet." Bonnie Hopps said smiling. Nick sat upright involuntarily on seeing Judy hugging 'Vicky' so enthusiastically. However, he changed his mind immediately, stood up and handed Victor his paw in greeting.

"Hello, I'm Nick Wilde".

"I'm Victor Hoofer, nice to meet you", the rabbit answered politely.

"He is also a Police Officer and Partner on the force with Judy", Stu said explanatory.

"I will get us another chair." Nick said smiling, but when he returned a few seconds later, Victor was already sitting beside Judy on Nicks chair. Only reluctantly Stu gave him some space so Nick could push in between him and Victor. The slick rabbit, as Nick named him mentally, was eagerly chatting with Judy and her parents. He is a lawyer at a large and prestigious company, and an old school friend with Judy or whatever. Nick was quickly marginalized by Judy's parents and she didn't even notice because of her chatting with 'Vicky'. He crossed his legs and leaned back, his aviator sunglasses on his nose and his old con-mammal smile back in place…

* * *

Judy waved their parents goodbye while the train was departing from the station. Victor had to leave early for an appointment and Nick and Judy were on their way to the subway station.

"This was a great evening; don't you think?" She asked eagerly, still smiling.

"Yeah."

"It was great to see Vicky again, I haven't see him for nearly ten years! He has really done well for himself!"

Nick nodded and then stopped hesitantly. "I think I left my phone in my locker at the precinct. I will go and fetch it, I need it to wake up, you know…" He still had his iron smiling face on and when Judy stopped, too, and turned around to face him her big eyes were mirrored in his sunglasses.

"What are you talking about? You used your phone while we were in the Diner" – His smile weakened a nuance, but he didn't say anything, his paws in his pockets. "And tomorrow is our day off, you don't need an alarm to wake up on a Sunday".

He still tried to maintain his innocent smile but it was of no use. ' _Dumb_ _fox_ ', he told himself, this was a stupid and thoughtless excuse. However, right now he could not think straight, there was a pungent sting in his chest. So he just stood there, saying nothing.

"Hey, what's the matter Nick?" Judy sounded concerned and made a step in his direction, trying to take his paw in hers.

"Nothing, carrots. I'm fine". The sound of his voice and his body language let him down completely, and just when Judy wanted to reply he sighed and said: "It's okay, fluff. We just had this one evening together. He is a really nice rabbit". His last words sounded like ice.

"Oh. My. Goodness. Nicholas Piberius Wilde! Are you jealous?" Judy sounded amused and shocked simultaneously. When called by his full name, Nick winced slightly.

"Perhaps… just a little bit…" he murmured embarrassed. Judy laughed so brightly that he winced again, and then she flung her arms around him, cuddling her face onto his chest.

"Dumb fox!"

"Cruel Bunny…"

"Don't look like that! There is nothing to be jealous about. He is really just an old friend from school". Nick enjoyed her embrace and put his arms around her himself. "And besides, he's gay." She smirked at Nick's nonplussed look.

"And how the hell was I supposed to know?"

"Uhm… good point. So, for you the evening was a bust. I'm so sorry, Nick…" Judy looked at him with her sad, big eyes and her ears dropped.

"Nothing to worry about, carrots". He took his aviator sunglasses off and smiled back at her warmly. They just stood there on the sidewalk, hugging each other. After a while Nick asked: "Do your parents know that Victor is… you know… gay?"

"I don't think so?"

"Well…" It took Judy a few moments until she grasped what Nick suggested.

"You think they wanted to set me up with him?" her paws thrown over her mouth.

"The good looking and successful rabbit, a meetup in the big city together with the parents…"

"Oh my god, I think you're right!" Judy looked shocked but Nick just smiled softly.

"I think, we have to talk to them eventually about us in the near future, or we will just encounter more of their hookup attempts. By the way, do you have a lot of those Adonis looking school friends I have to try to be on par with?"

"Perhaps one or two. But don't worry, you are the only one I really care for…" she winked with a sly grin. "What do you think, breakfast at my apartment?" And before Nick could answer her, she took him by his paw with her, walking to the subway heading home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Sean Dalglish for his review and proofreading this chapter! (Feb 2017)


	3. Everything for a good cause

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "As most of you already know by the end of the week the 47. Diversity City Festival is going to start. I’m going to create operation schedule tomorrow. Everyone who wants to enlist to the sportive competitions on Friday has to hand a notification by today, end of late shift. You will be indemnified from regular schedule on this day for your participation. However, the less I expect is a medalist!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](https://youtu.be/JpqPDJ_EHnE?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)
> 
> ### This chapter is also available as an _[audio drama on YouTube!](https://youtu.be/JpqPDJ_EHnE?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)_

Judy and Nick had started to watch a movie at her small apartment, snuggled together on her bed. However, they were so short of sleep that soon after they slept like spoons. The rabbit was the first to wake up in the morning. She had managed to get a good night's sleep after having not slept for a long time. It was good to sleep arm in arm with someone. Nick's warm fur was so soft and she snuggled her head against him, her eyes still closed and smiling with a satisfied expression on her face. She listened to his slow and constant heartbeat. Her exceptional hearing always told her when someone she was talking to was lying, or at least nervous and excited. Over the years, she had learned to differentiate between a dishonest heartbeat and an excited one, to differ between a sad one and a relaxed one. It was not an exact science, but it helped here now on interrogating suspects. In addition, by now she could keenly determine Nick's mood only by listening to his heartbeat. Currently he was still deeply asleep, and judging by his smile, he was having some sweet dreams. Judy fondled with his bushy tail, embraced it and fell into a light sleep, for her part having some sweet dreams, too.

It was about two hours later, around 9 o'clock on a beautiful Sunday morning, when Judy awoke again. She yawned and rubbed her eyes with her paws. Even before she opened her eyes she noticed Nick's slow, but this time awake heartbeat. She blinked and looked directly into his green eyes, a dreamy smile on his snout.

"Hey, carrots. Slept well?" he rubbed his nose along her cheek only to kiss her sentimentally on her neck.

"Mhmhh…" she hummed approvingly with a big smile. They both just lay there for a while, enjoying the nearness of each other. Judy was the first to get up: "I could go on forever, just being with you. But I'm hungry and could eat you accidentally". She giggled.

"Say, which of us is the predator again?" Nick laughed and straightened up on the bed.

"Last night you were pretty tame, so I'm not totally sure". Judy returned with a wink and hopped to the refrigerator. Her ears sank when she opened it to scan for something to eat. "It seems like I have promised too much with regard to having breakfast". She grumbled and closed the door with a frustrated sigh.

Nick leaned his head to the side, moving his tongue seductively over his lips, slightly showing his white teeth. "Then I guess its rabbit that's on the menu…"

"Or I just invite you to some breakfast at Starpaws", Judy answered, paws on her hips; with a sly grin. It was some gorgeous view, Nick thought, seeing Judy in this provocative pose only in a shirt and underwear. But Nick acted disappointed and Judy added: "Okay, and some Blueberry Muffins, too!"

Nick grinned again, from ear-to-ear. "Proposal accepted! Sly Bunny…"

"Simple Fox."

* * *

They sat together on a park bench, both enjoying some blueberry muffins and a hot pot of coffee for _Nick_ and a hot chocolate for _Judy_ respectively. It was a great Sunday, with sunny weather and all. A few mammals were doing sports, running through the park or doing yoga on the meadow. Some others, just like Judy and Nick, were just enjoying the weather, going for a walk or sitting under a tree or other benches. Nick wore the same casual clothes as yesterday, as he did not have anything to change at Judy's apartment. Judy wore some leggings and a tank top, knowing exactly what a turn on it was for Nick as she heard his heartbeat accelerate when she was changing. She now sat laterally on the bench, leaning her head back against Nick's shoulder, and he put his arm around her, his paw resting on her belly. He caressed her with his thumb just were her top ended, stroking through her thin fur.

They had both sat there in silence, watching a family of about a dozen rabbits picnicking about 150 meters away on the lawn. The kits were playing tag and romped around the grass, giggling loudly and having fun. It was Nick's heartbeat again, that let Judy predict that something had been bothering Nick for a couple of minutes. He seemed to be uneasy, something she didn't really notice that often with the sly fox. She opened her eyes and looked up.

"Hey, earth to Foxy. Anybody home?" she asked playfully, tickling him with her ears under his chin.

Nick gave a jerk and smiled to her. "Roger that, everything's fine".

"'Fine' is the smaller sibling of 'bullshit'".

Nick looked shocked. "Such bad words from such a small bunny, you are poleaxing me carrots!"

"Come on, Nick. I always know when something is wrong with you. I don't want to drag everything out of you, and you just downplaying it every time doesn't help either". Nick was watching her closely so Judy continued: "You can trust me. I love you, you know that?" She laid her paw gently on his and smiled.

Nick returned her smile. "Are you sure about this? About us?"

Judy was somewhat irritated. "Of course I am. Why do you doubt?"

"I don't know. Mixed species couples aren't anything fancy these days, even between predator and prey. But a fox and a bunny also isn't quite standard".

"Do you mind being seen with a bunny in public?"

"No!" Nick denied quickly. "I love you like crazy!"

"As I said I love you, too. So what's the point?" Judy was uncertain why Nick was so hesitant.

"It would be easier for you to be with a nice rabbit like Victor".

"I already told you, he isn't into females", Judy rolled her eyes, she hated it when Nick walked on eggshells instead of just getting to the point that was really bothering him.

"I know, It was just an example. Your parents…" " _So that's what_ was causing his grief", Judy thought to herself. "…I am sure, they wish you to start a family of your own". Nick looked back at the bunny family and their nearly a dozen children. Judy put her paw on his snout and pulled his face in her direction.

"I'm sure, they wish me to be happy, and if you don't want to have children that's ok. I have 275 brothers and sisters; they will get a lot of grandchildren in either case". Her smile was so heart-warming, Nicks heartbeat made a few leaps.

"You don't want kits, Judy?"

His mention of her name gave her jimjams in her belly again. "I want to be with you, Nick", she heard his heart beating like a drum, but it was a happy sound. Nevertheless, he seemed contemplative. "What's on your mind?"

"Do you know anything about fox relationships?"

erratic with promiscuous behavior?" Judy winked.

This time, Nicks shocked facial expression wasn't an act. "No! Dumb Bunny."

"So, tell me then".

Nick leaned back and thought for a while before talking again. "We aren't promiscuous in any way. Quite the contrary. We rarely fall in love with others. However, when we do, it is an eternal relationship".

"Oh…" Judy suddenly sounded a bit disappointed. "So you are saying this is just a short-time thing?"

She hardly finished her sentence and immediately his heartbeat responded excitedly. "No! Nothing like that! I… I think…" Nicks heart attempted to just burst out of his chest, as measured by his heart frequency. "I think I already found my life partner, but…"

Judy jumped around on her knees, laying her arms around Nick's neck. "Is it a sly bunny?" she asked seductively, smiling at him. Nick just nodded and looked defeated. "I think…", Judy whispered in his ear, "…I found my life partner, too." She pecked his ear and they both sat there, arm in arm, cuddling together. Finally, their heartbeats synchronized – even though for every beat of his heart there were three for Judy's. But both of them knew they had found someone special.

* * *

**_Case File 732829/HW-2903, Report of arrest_ **

_On Sunday, 17th May 3316, Officers Judith Hopps and Nicholas Wilde were off-duty in the Sahara Central Park. The suspect, a koala later identified as Jackson Piering, known under the nickname "Baggy", approached them about half past eleven in the morning, offering some nice and cheap selling jewelry. He was also assuming that Officers Wilde and Hopps were having an affair and could need some non-retraceable smartphones to message each_ _other_ _. Both officers played along and the suspect showed them a collection of phones, jewelry, sunglasses and other small electronics like MP3 players from his backpack. Officer Hopps examined a few phones, apparently looking for_ _one that matched_ _her fur color. As she could identify two smartphones as presumably those being stolen_ _on_ _a few occasions in the Hollow Bar, Officer Wilde identified himself as police officer with his badge and both, Officer Wilde and Hopps could overpower the suspect. They Mirandized him and called the precinct controller to have him retrieved by Officers Fangmeyer and McHorn. The suspect refused to give any evidence. The secured items were later identified to be_ _booty_ _from_ _all_ _eight_ _thefts_ _._

* * *

Both, Nick and Judy, sat on the big chair in front of Chief Bogos desk. It was Sunday afternoon and the buffalo read their report of arrest that they had just handed in. Nick wasn't happy to be in the precinct on their day off, but after the arrest they made this morning, there was quite some paperwork to do. Independent if it was their day off or not. They could finish their open case, quite a bonanza for sure. But that also meant more work and less cuddle-time. Judy was taking it with a pinch of salt, glad to take any opportunity to prove herself. Finally, Bogo discarded the report. "Good work. Enjoy the rest of your day off. Dismissed".

* * *

As they walked out of the precinct Judy seemed to be disappointed.

"What's on your mind, carrots? Not pleased with our achievement?"

"Just a lucky shot. We wasted the whole day yesterday with interrogations and those stupid surveillance movies, and today this fool just run into us".

Nick lay his arm around her shoulders and pulled her gently to his side. "Don't worry, fluff. There will be plenty cases for you to prove you, and I'm not sad that this case is now closed".

Judy kicked a ball back to some kits and smiled. "You are right. We solved the case, it doesn't matter how".

"Yepp, that's the spirit I am talking about, carrots".

They lingered around the city for a while, stopping from time to time to look at some shop-windows or to have some ice cream. Later they sat in a restaurant, eating some pasta for dinner. They talked and laughed a lot and time flew again. It was around ten o'clock when they decided to spend the night at Nick's apartment, eventually watching a movie together. However, cuddling together on his bed, they did not even bother to switch on the TV and after a while, they dozed: Nick curled up on the sheets, his tail touching his head, and Judy lay midway on her side, facing Nick's face and snuggled into him.

* * *

They arrived at the precinct a little early on Monday morning. Nick's apartment was farther away, but Judy picked up some clothes from her flat the evening before so they didn't have to make a detour. Before they walked through the door they looked at each other.

"Left!" Judy asserted and Nick smirked.

"Right, then".

They opened the door and approached Clawhauser's desk.

"Hi buddy! Had a nice weekend?"

"Ohh, hi Nick! Judy! I had a great weekend, my brother came by for a visit, and I heard you two had some action?"

"Just an arrest of an alleged thief", Judy responded smiling, then pointing to his neck. "You... have some donut there... no, not there, on the other side… more left... yepp!" – Clawhauser took the donut from his skin/fur fold under the left side of his chin, ( _Judy had won!_ )

"You two cannot enjoy even your free day, can you?" the cheetah mocked.

"We were just out for a walk in the park when he really tried to sell us some of those stolen Goods". Nick snickered.

"Ohhh, you two were dating, then? How did it go?"

"It went like clockwork, until we had to call dispatch for an arrest". Judy winked at him, and before Clawhauser could ask for any more details, they were both off to get some coffee/hot chocolate before getting their daily Rota from Chief Bogo.

Fangmeyer sat beside Judy and Nick in the conference room and they chatted about the arrest the day before. "I Didn't believe you two could pass off as undercover agents; least of all you", he nodded in Judy's direction with a wink. "Being the first and currently only rabbit on the force and those months of media attention I thought you were known all over town. Good work you two!" he put his thumb up approvingly. Judy beamed with pride and her nose twitched. When Chief Bogo entered the room, a bawl went through the crowd, as usual. ' _Too much_ _testosterone_ ', Judy said to herself. Bogo scheduled all the different districts and patrol routes into teams. Then he added:

"As most of you already know by the end of the week the 47. Diversity City Festival is going to start. I'm going to create an operational schedule tomorrow. Everyone who wants to enlist in the sport competitions on Friday has to hand in a notification by end of the day, by the end of the late shift. You will be indemnified from regular schedule on this day for your participation. However, the least I expect is a medalist! Any questions?" Some mumbling and quiet laughter was going on, so Chief Bogo finished the meeting and left the room, most of the officers following him, leading in one direction or the other.

"What do you think?" Judy asked Nick while strolling to the parking area.

"Hm? Think about what, carrots?"

"Well, enlisting in the sport competitions, of course!"

"Huh? I would have thought that you of all people would rather do scheduled service".

"Yeah, but I heard about the Diversity City Festival of Zootopia back when I was a kit, and I already thought back then that it was a great idea! Every type of mammal living together in a big city, anyone can be anything, this City Festival celebrates everything I love about Zootopia! And look at us, Nick!" They both stopped in a corridor, and Judy was now facing Nick with an enthusiastic smile. "The first rabbit officer of the ZPD, and the first fox officer of the ZPD! And maybe even the very first Rabbit-Fox-Couple. We both are living the spirit of the festival. Wouldn't it be great to be an active part of it, too?" Judy was gettin0067 more and more enthusiastic about this idea, bouncing on her feet in front of Nick and twitching her nose.

Nick smiled at her, leaned against the wall and flipped his feet over. Not only could he see – and hear – Judy's enthusiasm, he literally smelled it. He always had a distinct olfaction, but most of the time he just suppressed it. Living in a big city like Zootopia with such a big diversity of animals was an olfactory challenge. Too many pheromones and artificial scents, it was too much to deal with. However, it was more difficult to ignore smells when you were with the same person day in, day out. Over the years as a Conmammal, Nick also learned to use his skills to his advantage. It could be a huge benefit to know if someone you try to outsmart is nervous or relaxed. When you try to distract a woman by flirting, it is useful to know if she finds you – or what you said to her – attractive or boring. Moreover, by now he could tell that Judy was definitely excited about the idea of participating in this Diversity Festival with him together as a couple. Pheromones are a better lie detector for emotions than any electronic device!

"And for what disciplines should we register?" Nick asked, still smiling.

"I don't know", Judy replied sheepishly. "What disciplines are there?"

"Well, there is a cycling race in Sahara Square, a Biathlon with kayak and running, skiing, a swimming contest…"

"Sounds a lot like our academy training", Judy laughed and Nick grinned.

"Yeah, there are quite a few similarities. The sport activities are on Friday, distributed all over the dozen districts of Zootopia. So we can register for one, perhaps two of them", Nick shrugged.

Judy still was all hyped up. "The Biathlon sounds great! But I want to do something together with you, too", She smiled broadly and put her paws together like she was praying.

"Hmm, the Biathlon sounds good to me".

Judy leapt into the air and reached out with one arm.

"But only on one condition, carrots".

The rabbit raised her eyebrow skeptically, "And what condition is that?"

"You will accompany me to the festivities on Friday evening as my escort", Nick smiled and winked at her.

"Sly Fox".

"Dumb Bunny. Do you agree?"

"Yes, of course! Let's go to Bogo to register for Friday immediately!" Judy grabbed Nicks paw and wanted to rush to the Chiefs office.

But Nick stopped her: "Hey, hey, not so fast. Registration is at the front desk; we have to talk to Clawhauser for this". Then he dragged her into the other direction to the front desk.

* * *

The rest of their day was just routine patrol around Central Square and the Rainforest district. There were a few motoring offences, like speeding, and a road traffic accident between a giraffe and a beaver. Overall, it was a quiet shift, and Nick and Judy left the precinct, after finishing their daily reports, just in time.

"Are you in the mood for some pizza, carrots?" Nick suggested on their way to the subway.

"Sounds good to me", She hesitated a moment, then continued. "Do you want to sleepover at my flat?" She smiled a little coyly.

"Another favor I should do for you?" the fox asked mocking.

Judy wrinkled her nose. "Nah, you don't have to. I could ask my neighbors to come over. A deer is not as cuddly as a certain fox, but I could surely accustom myself to it".

Now it was Nicks time to wrinkle his nose. "Your neighbor is a bit fishy in my book. I cannot allow for him to utilize you."

Judy smirked. "So, you're coming?"

"I cannot promise to come, but I will stay at your apartment". Nicks sly and gamy grin made Judy blush and she boxed him against his shoulder.

"Dumb fox!"

"Cheeky bunny".

They went to the subway station and drove off to Nick's apartment. He wanted to take a few spare clothes and around the corner was a very nice pizzeria, run by squirrels. As they sat down on the outside, a squirrel in a suite came up to them to take their orders. "We'll take one bottle of Merlot, a pizza with carrots and zucchini and a pizza with mushrooms, peas and some carrots", Nick said without hesitation, before Judy could even have a look at the card. The squirrel nodded and shooed back to the counter.

Judy cocked her head, and squinted her eyes. "How do you know what I want to eat?"

"You like carrots on your pizza, carrots, and you always ate them with zucchini, when you are …" Nick suddenly interrupted himself and looked embarrassed to Judy. Then he quickly re-arranged the silverware and napkin on his side, although everything was straight already. Nevertheless, it was clear as day that Judy would not drop the subject.

"When I am what, Nick?" She heard his heartbeat rushing. It seemed as if this was awkward for him, even though she hardly experienced this with Nick. He sighed and he looked defeated, as if he was pleading with his eyes that she let him drop the subject, but she returned his look with a resolute and questioning look. He closed his eyes and mumbled something so quiet, that even Judy could not understand him. She kicked her feet against his under the table.

"Ouch!"

"What is it, Nick?"

He sighed again, and bent over to her, speaking very quietly. "I noticed that you always eat some carrots mixed with zucchini when you are in heat. As a salad, in a wrap or on a pizza".

"Wow, you are a good observ… wait a second…" Her eyes grew bigger when she realized what Nick just suggested. Moreover, she blushed because he was right. "How do you know?" She asked almost in a whisper and a little frightened.

Nick shrugged "I am a fox. We have an excellent olfaction, and your scent changes ever so slightly when you're in heat".

Judy clasped her paws over her mouth and did not know what to say. "You can smell it?" She mouthed without speaking aloud and Nick smiled slyly.

"Not only that…" Judy groaned and wished the ground would open up and swallow her. Nick was fair enough to not say anything and waited for her to handle this. In Private, he was afraid that this revelation could scare Judy enough to bail on him any second. As their meals were served they started to eat, still without saying anything. Nicks heart sank into his boots. He was sure that he had goofed this up, he had showed too much of his true self. He had been thinking since their kiss on Friday night that she was too good for him, that he didn't deserve someone like her, and now he had said to Judy that he could smell her scent, even know when she was in heat. This must have been daunting. He thought about getting up and running. But even when Nick didn't say a word, Judy knew exactly what was going on inside of him. Finally, his heartbeat was anxious – just like that of a prey when hunted by a predator, Judy thought – and she thought he was going to spring up from the table at any moment. That was the second she could not postpone a reaction; she reached out her paw and laid it gently on his. He seemed to ease off at her touch and she smiled at this realization.

"It's okay, Nick. You did not say anything wrong, you just dumbfounded me. It is quite plain to me that you have an extraordinary sense of smell, I just never thought about it… this way".

"I am so sorry that I embarrassed you", Nick spoke in a low voice. "I really am just a dumb fox".

"The main thing is that you are my dumb fox", Judy smiled warmly to him and finally Nick too was smiling again.

"If you want to continue to put up with me?"

"Don't ever questioned this again!" She stroked his paw with her thumb. "I love you, Nick". His heart made a little backflip at these words and Nick replied.

"I love you too, Judy".

* * *

Next few days they met in the exercise room of the ZPD after their regular shift. They were both in shape, but the competition on Friday, even if it's for the good cause, would quite be an effort. After some stretching, they both each used the rowing machines for about an hour. Then some limbering-up exercise and finally they jogged through the Central Park for a few laps and then alternated to Judy's or Nicks apartment. Judy was always first when jogging, but on the rowing machines, Nick had an advantage due to his greater developed arm musculature. It was on Thursday evening, one day before the big Diversity City Festival. In the last days, they trained after their shift for several hours and where quite dead when they arrived at Nicks flat. Judy lay flat on her back on Nicks bed spread-eagled, fanning some air with her tank top. They didn't mention again that she was currently in heat and by now it was the last, or second to last day of this cycle. Doing sports worked great as distraction, although Nicks trained and sweaty upper body was a splendid view now. The fox had taken off his shirt – ' _Stay calm and eat carrots_ ' – and threw it in a box with other dirty linen.

"I'm off for a shower, carrots. Mi casa es su casa". He ambled into the bathroom, leaving the door ajar.

Minutes later the flowing water could be heard in the other room, where Judy was still lying on the bed. She straightened up, propping herself on her elbows. "Tomorrow will be a stressful day" she said, more to herself than to Nick.

"What is with tomorrow?" Nick asked from under the shower.

"It will be quite stressful; don't you think?"

"That's what we trained all week for, carrots!"

about the sporting events, but I heard there are a few smaller protests around the city".

"Most of the ZPD will be on patrol, nothing to be worried about, fluff".

"Yeah…" But Judy didn't totally ease off. She hopped from the bed, took off her tank top and sport-BH, and sneaked through the bathroom door. She undid her trunks and undies, too, and crept behind the shower curtain, to Nick into the shower. He leaned with his head to the tiling and let the water drip down his back, not noticing the small rabbit. It was only when she stroked her paws through his fur, that he realized he was no longer alone in the shower and twitched back in surprise.

"Carrots! You will give me a heart attack some day!" he snickered, but went speechless when he realized she was naked in front of him for the first time.

"No smart comment, Officer Wilde?" she asked slyly, now stroking his hips with her paws. Nick just shook his head with a featherbrained appearance open-mouthed and reduced to silence. Judy giggled softly and massaged the fur on his stomach. Finally, Nick regained his tongue and hunkered down. One of his paws caressed Judy's cheek, the other he stroked down her back.

When he spoke again, his voice was serious and gentle. "Judy, you are the most beautiful woman I ever saw". After that, he kissed her more passionately than he ever had before. Judy pegged with her paw against the steaming up glass wall of the shower and returned his kiss.

* * *

The next morning, both Nick and Judy were somewhat weary when their alarm went off, but a cold shower woke up the rabbit first, then the fox. While Judy was in the shower, Nick prepared a small breakfast: Some crispbread, a fresh fruit salad and a drink made of mixed vegetables, mainly carrots for Judy and tomato and apples for Nick. Up to this point he had never used his mixer, he had received it as a gift from his mother the day he moved into this apartment. However, Judy quickly taught him how to make fruit and vegetable drinks with it. It wasn't so bad, after all, he agreed. While Nick finally took his round in the shower, Judy already made some warming up and stretching exercises. She felt great today! Nothing could prevent her good mood to… her phone went off, the sound already revealing her parents as the caller.

"My parents are calling!" Judy shouted, so that Nick would hear it in the bathroom; then accepted the muzzle call.

"Hey, darling!" Her mother greeted her with a big smile.

"Hi mom, hi dad!" Judy waved with a paw into the camera, still beaming in anticipation of today's events.

"Just wanted to give you a short call before you start your day. Today is the sport festival you and your colleagues from the ZPD are participating in, right?"

Nick came out of the bathroom, totally nude and smiling, leaning against the doorframe. When Judy caught sight of him, he giggled but immediately looked down to her phone again and answered her parents.

"Yepp, today is the big day. Targeting to be a medal winner, nothing short", She winked.

"Of course you are, my dear! We wish you good luck! Give us a call after you're finished, will you?"

"Of course, mom! OK, I have to go, don't want to be late today!" They said goodbye to each other, and Judy put her phone down. Then grinned and threw a shirt in Nick's face. "Would you please dress up; we are going to be late otherwise!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Nick saluted to Judy who laughed, and then Nick quickly dressed up in his sportswear while Judy drank her carrot-shake.

* * *

They had to report in at the precinct and were dismissed right after the morning schedule. Besides Nick and Judy, Fangmeyer registered for the hurdle race and Marki, a wolf they didn't know well, was registered for the second biathlon for skiing and shooting. All others were grouped in teams all around the different hotspots.

"Remember there are two registered protests. Only a small number of participants are to be expected and precinct four will handle most of it. But be prepared if support is necessary. Dismissed".

"Hopps, Fangmeyer, Wilde, Marki, just a minute…" Bogo shouted as the colleagues were heading to the parking spot or the front hall. The four grouped around Bogo, who took a big envelope from his desk. He got four signs from it with their registration numbers. "You are figureheads of the ZPD! Don't disappoint me! You can take two days off, so see you on Monday – with your medals! Dismissed!" Bogo grunted and then left, the four athletes chatted for a few minutes together and helped each other to clip the numbers to their shirts.

"Good luck, everybody!" Nick waved goodbye, and he and Judy went to the subway station. They had to start in about two hours in the Rainforest District with kayak being their first discipline of the biathlon. They would have to row 42 kilometers together in one boat. After that, they would have to run another 21 kilometers through Savannah Central, the goal line being at the town hall. As both must cross the finish line to win the race it would not help if Judy sprinted forward and Nick went for broke during the rowing part. They registered as a team and only as a team they could – they would! – win.

"Have you ever participated in the festival in the past?" Judy asked while they were doing light stretching to warmup.

"No, never. After the incident with the boy scout's I wasn't too keen in participating in this festival as a fox".

"Oh, sorry. I didn't want to bring bad memories back, Nick."

"It's okay, who could blame them. It was another time back then, and the protests are proving that those times are not entirely gone".

"When I was a child, I always heard what a wonderful place Zootopia was, where anyone could be anything, and all different kinds of mammals lived together. I sometimes forget, that you lived here back then and it was nothing like I thought it was".

"Never mind, carrots. I would still be the sly Conmammal everyone expects from me as a fox", he stopped his exercise and turned to Judy. "You were the first one beside my mother who really believed in me. You even relied on me and gave me the feeling of being an important part of something bigger. Without you I would be lingering in the streets or be in jail by now. You made me a better person".

Judy smiled at him, fighting back her tears.

Nick reached for her paw, "And if this wasn't enough, you even gave me something even more important", he raised her paw to his snout and kissed it gently.

Judy sniffed; she wiped away some tears with her other arm and boxed him softly on the shoulder. "Dumb fox".

"Sly bunny".

"Shut up, you foxes are so emotional!" she sobbed and then both of them laughed at the same time. "We have some more exercises to do!"

* * *

( _YouTube: 0OWj0CiM8WU_ )  
It was early afternoon when they climbed into the kayak and the competition began. Besides them, there were 14 other teams participating and when the signal to start went off, they had managed to gain an early lead. When they got to the halfway mark, they had managed to get a few hundred meters ahead of the second team. They did not talk but rowed in an uninflected and steady rhythm. They arrived in first place at the first goal line after 43 minutes and 29 seconds. Their arms felt like lead, but there were still twenty-one kilometers to run. Nick was a good sprinter, but for this distance he had to spread his stamina for the whole run. Judy had been running long distances since her youth, so it was her duty to stay near Nick and to motivate him or give him some instructions to hang on. It did not make any sense to rush through this, instead they tried to maintain a constant speed. All kinds of mammals were cheering on the side of the roped road, a lot of them swinging flags and banners. There were also a few camera teams filming the whole event, and all kinds of different music was playing here and there from big loudspeakers. But Nick did not bother, he was concentrating hard to hold his speed and rhythm, Judy encouraging him from time to time. It was no help that she sometimes even ran backwards, facing him and taunting him with a wink. Not only did his arms feel like lead now, but also his legs. Even breathing was like thousands of small needles pricking his lungs. He vaguely noticed two or three other running teams passing them, but he was too focused to really notice.

Then Judy's voice brought him back to present: "Just one kilometer left, Nick! We are currently fourth, do you think we can speed up for a final spurt?" Nick was sure, she could easily sprint right ahead and even be the first to cross the finish line. But they both had to. He was not sure, he could keep up with this speed for the final meters, much less speeding up. "Come on Nick. I believe in you!" Judy's big eyes were looking at him and her paw was touching his arm.

He would do it. For Judy. "For you", he heard his own dull voice saying, a smile creeping on his snout while he actually noticeably sped up. They both ran all-out for the last few hundred meters and eventually overtook one team. They almost overhauled the second placed team but crossed the finish line being on the verge of doing so. There was a lot of shouting and cheering from so many mammals, but for Nick the only important one was Judy jumping happily in front of him, flailing her arms in the air. She finally jumped against his chest, embracing him so hard he nearly fainted.

* * *

"Hello, my name is Carla Columna, and I'm live on the ground with ZPD Officer Judy Hopps at Zootopia's forty-seventh Diversity Festival". The gazelle was cheerfully talking to a camera with a microphone in her hoof. Next to her was Judy, still breathing a bit heavily and with a towel around her shoulders. "Judy, you just made the third place at the Kayak-Running-Biathlon with your partner, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm feeling pretty well. Still somewhat puffed".

"You were in first place after the kayak leg, are you disappointed that you only made it to third in the whole run?"

"On no account! It's the taking part that counts, and there was some really tough competition. I heard the first placing team won for the fourth year in a row. To be the third off the top of one's head is surely a big thing and nothing to be disappointed about".

"Of course, you are right Judy! Who was the good-looking man on your side, accomplishing the phenomenal final spurt for you?"

"Oh, that's my partner and friend, Nick! He has currently lost his wind, but we made a great team together!"

"All of the best wishes to you both! And after a short commercial, we are taking a look at the progress of the Skiing-Shooting-Biathlon over in Tundratown. Stay tuned!"

* * *

There were a lot of mammals around and Judy had a hard time finding Nick. She also tried to hear him, but there was just too many noises to concentrate. Suddenly a paw was put on her shoulder.

"Hey, carrots", Judy was caught by surprise and jumped around. "Hey, hey…" Nick held up his paws in defense and smiled quite exhausted. "It's just your dumb fox".

"Oh, Nick!" Judy smiled and hugged him. "Sorry, it's just that you usually can't sneak up on me like this. You were great!"

"Naah, I hold you back. You could have done so much better without me, I even bet you could have beaten the first place!"

"You never hold me back, Nick. Without you, I would never have made it through kayak. We are a great couple!"

"You mean a great team", He winked.

"I mean we are both, dumb fox", She laughed. "Come on, let's sit down for a while". Judy took him by his paw and they both went to a leafy bower slightly aside from the hustle and bustle.

* * *

"I do not think this is a good idea, Nick". Judy was in her bathroom for quite a while. They came back to her place in the afternoon to take a shower and freshen up for the dancing party she agreed to go to with Nick. He was wearing a dark blue suit with a black shirt and a dark red tie. However, Judy had been in the bathroom for nearly two hours and was moaning about her appearance and outfit.

"You could wear nothing but a towel and still be the most beautiful woman at that party, carrots", Nick assured her. He had never seen Judy wear a dress or something similar, he did not even know that she owned one. Anyway, he was sure that she would look wonderful.

"But you are not allowed to laugh, promise?"

"I'll promise I'll go alone if you don't come out of that bathroom at once!" he laughed.

Finally, he heard her sigh and the door opened. Judy wore a body-hugging, shoulder less silk dress in light green. Her fur was carefully brushed and sprayed with some glitter around her cheeks. She even put on some eye make-up and lipstick.

"I don't know, is it okay? I only wore it once to a wedding". Judy looked somewhat shy but smiling at him. Nick on the other hand leaned against the wall, his mouth hung slightly open. He wanted to say something, but in his head was a big black hole; he tried to make a compliment, but only some babbling was coming from his mouth. Judy began to feel a bit uncertain. "I guess I can change into something more convenient", She suggested and turned around.

But Nick managed to say a single word: "No!" She hesitated and Nick swallowed the lump in his throat. "You are beautiful like a sunrise after a rainy season, bright like the brightest star ever seen by mammals, and pure like a snowflake". Judy put a paw over her mouth and Nick finished: "I swear; you are only one halo away from being the angel of light". Judy swore she blushed so hard that she must be as red as Nicks fur. The fox made a slightly unconfident step in her direction, holding his paw out. "Please allow me the honor of being your escort for the evening".

Judy snickered and made a curtsy. "It is a privilege to go out with you".

They ordered a Zuber and when they finally arrived at the city hall, the party was in full swing. They met a few colleagues on duty, as well as off duty and greeted them. Clawhauser was in a colorful suite himself and hugged both of them on sight.

"Hello sweethearts! Good to see you having some fun, too! Woah, Judy! You look gorgeous! Moreover, congratulations on your victory earlier today! Bogo was grumbling that you only made it in third place, but in truth he is really proud of you. Fangmeyer only made it in fifth and Marki got the gold medal as usual. At least he is one of our best Snipers, and a really good skier, too!"

They made some more Smalltalk, greeting colleagues and friends passing by, and sipping on their second cocktail. It was a great party, and the live band was playing some of the greatest hits. It was nearly ten o'clock when one of the hosts, a grey koala, went on stage and grabbed a microphone.

The band played a fanfare and the koala shouted "Attention, please!" It took a while and the band played a second fanfare until the voices trickled away. "Thank you that you all appeared so multitudinously and made this festival one of the greatest we ever had! As a yearly highlight, we now start our Song-For-A-Dance-Contest, our band will be available the whole evening for your wishes. Our only condition is that you have to dance to it! Thank you all together and have a nice evening!"

The crowd applauded enthusiastically and the band waited for the first song wish. It only took a few seconds and the koala that delivered the speech was dancing with a cheetah to ' _Try everything_ '. Clawhauser was excited about the cover version, and danced along, and many mammals did the same. Even Nick was dangling with his hips and Judy giggled.

"I have a great idea!" she exclaimed. Nicks eyes grew big and he felt somewhat uneasy. This was Judy's 'Try everything' tone of voice. She emptied her Cocktail and when the song was nearly finished she ran fleet-footed to the stage, indicating to Nick with some gesture to follow her. The fox followed her slowly to the stage while Judy had a short talk with the band leader. Quite a few animals threw a glance after them, and Nick was proud to have this beautiful bunny at his side. The moment the band started to play, Judy turned around to him. ( _YouTube "cyrdSGeF5Qs"_ ) She stepped light-footed from foot to foot, teetering and running her paws all over her body, finally waving them into the air.

When the front-singer of the band started with the first verse, Judy mouthed the lyrics smiling wide. "Champagne glass, and a Merlot of Whine, with an old man staring at his broken time", Nick grinned and moved along, swinging his hips to the beat and eventually meeting with Judy. They grabbed each other's paws, dancing along. When the refrain started, the whole crowd started singing along, and Nick threw Judy – much to her surprise – slick into the air and caught her again. Gradually other couples joined them on the dance floor and they enjoyed their dance as if there was no tomorrow.

At the end of the song, Judy released herself from Nick and walked prancing backward, making a follow-me gesture with her paws. "If you don't know where, come follow me…" she mouthed along the lyrics. Nick made a show, doing some crazy stupid dance moves, finally following her off the stage with the last beats. The whole crowd applauded, some even wolf whistled them. Judy and Nick were both a little short of breath, and thankfully taking the drinks Clawhauser handed them over.

"Ohhh my Goooodness, you two are such a cuuuute couple!" Nick laughed at Judy's playfully frowning face but she could not hold her own laughter back for very long.

* * *

They partied far into the night, having the next two days off. When they finally arrived at Nick's apartment, they were more than just a bit tiddly and giggled all the way to his bed. For a few moments, they just stood there, holding each other's paws and glancing at each other, smiling satisfied. It was Judy who took the initiative, grabbing Nick by his tie and pulling him down so she could passionately kiss him. He replied her kiss and his paws stroked over her back and her ear line. However, Judy was not in the mood for some tame kissing and cuddling, impatiently she tore his shirt apart and dragging his jacket down. Nick groaned and opened the zipper of her dress on her back, inhaling her scent deeply. With a firm spring, Judy threw Nick back on his bed, immediately hopping on top of him.

"You are my trophy!" she smirked slyly, peeling her dress off in front of him.

* * *

Obviously unnoticed for this night Judy's phone showed 12 missed calls from her parents and 8 texts:

"Hi darling! How was your festival? XX Mom".

"Hey Jude, the dude! We couldn't get through to you, just wanted to hear about your day and how the competition went! Love, Dad & Mom".

"Hey Judy! We just saw a résumé of the competitions on ZNN. You won the third place, congratulations! Give us a call when you have a spare minute. Love Mom".

"Judy! Pick up your phone! Mom & Dad".

"Judy, we just saw you on an interview on ZNN! You have a boyfriend? Call us ASAP! Mom & Dad".

"You have to bring him by for a visit! Are you free this weekend? We are SO PROUD of you! Love Mom & Dad".

"Judy, we still could not get through to you! Are you still at the party? Give us a call! Love you! Mom & Dad".

"PS: Don't forget your visit! XX Mom".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of kudos to ShippingMammals! He inspired me with Chapter 9 of his story "The fox and the rabbit" to the dancing part near the end of this chapter. You should totally read his story, too! I think it is fantastic!
> 
> And many thanks to Sean Dalglish for his review and proofreading this chapter! (Feb 2017)


	4. Skyfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy’s headache was better by now and she was already planning their weekend trip in detail. “First we have to pack a few clothes together. Maybe one backpack is enough for both of us? Whatever, we could take the train at 14:22 o’clock and arrive at 16:09 o’clock in Bunnyburrow. From there we can take the bus, so we have to meet my parents not until we finally arrived.” She already was typing her arriving time into her smartphone, and sent it to her parents. “When John and Joshua are coming, too, we discuss the boyfriend topic firstly with mom and dad in private. When they are eased in, we can tell a few siblings and then it will reach everyone fast enough on the grapevine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](https://youtu.be/zPWKeZuJwDw?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)
> 
> ### This chapter is also available as an _[audio drama on YouTube!](https://youtu.be/zPWKeZuJwDw?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)_

They were dancing, and partying, and drinking, and dancing, and… the music was getting louder and reminded her of something. But whatever, they are dancing, and undressing, and kissing, and… still this annoying song, are they playing it in a loop?

Judy's dream came to an abrupt end when she realized that she was not listening to a band but her parent's ringtone! She tried to jump out of the bed, but was still only half awake, so she landed on the floor with a muffled sound. Frantically she looked for her phone between the clothes scattered randomly on the floor. "Sweet cheese and crackers!" she mumbled. The bright daylight caused a piercing pain in her head – damn alcohol! – but eventually she found her ringing phone under the bed. Judy grimaced because of the bright display, breathed out deeply and accepted the call – Audio only.

"Oh my god, Judy! Are you okay? We've been trying to reach you since yesterday! We have been worried all night and eventually wanted to call the police!"

Judy grimaced again, the loud and fast voice of her mother was exactly the opposite of she wanted to hear in her current state. She sighed: "Hey, Mom. I'm okay, don't overdo it again".

"Oh Judy! You sound terrible! And what is with your camera? Are you really okay?"

"Yes, Mom. It was a long day yesterday and we were all partying until late at night. I was just woken up by your call. I promise, everything is all right".

"Oh, my dear! Of course, you were partying. We saw your interview on ZNN, congratulations for getting 3rd place! When do you two plan to come over?"

"Wha…?" Judy was reduced to silence, too much information this early in the morning. "What do you mean, when do we plan to come?" She sounded bemused, and that was so totally not her.

Her mother noticed immediately. "Are you sure you're okay, honey?" She asked worried and Judy sighed again.

"Yeah, but I'm not really awake yet. Could you please simply explain what you are talking about? I really need some coffee and a shower".

"Since when do you drink coffee?"

Damn it. "Mom. Please."

"Okay, okay. We saw your interview after your victory on ZNN, and the anchor man said you won the third place together with your boyfriend! And of course you have to introduce him to us! You said you have a free weekend, so you two have to drop by of course!"

Judy tried to ease down all this information, suddenly realizing that her parents meant Nick – without even knowing it! "Mom…"

"No excuses, dear! We have prepared a room for you two to sleepover and your siblings are coming over for afternoon tea and cake!"

Judy's ears dropped and all she could say was "Okay, but listen. About my friend…"

"No need for explanations! We are eager to meet you two this afternoon! Bye, dear, love you!"

"Mom!"– click.

Judy dropped her head against the bed frame, immediately regretting it, her headache getting even worse. When she lifted her head again, she saw Nick sitting upright on his bed, with the most shocked face she ever saw on him; even excelling the face he made the first time she hustled him. "You heard everything, I guess?" Nick just nodded speechless. "Well," Judy said. "You are the former Conmammal. Any idea of how to hustle us out of this?"

"Witness-Protection-Program?" Nick suggested lamely and collapsed upon himself.

"Not an option", Judy smiled mildly. "Do you have some light pain killers?" She asked. "I can't think straight with this headache".

Nick nodded and pointed to his desk. "Second drawer, and bring me some too, please".

Judy headed to the desk, pulled the drawer open, took two pills – one for her and one for Nick – and walked back to the bed. "I guess you will meet my parents today".

"I already met them, carrots", Nick replied and swallowed the pill grimacing.

"Not as my boyfriend".

"Oh... yeah... _that_ part. Does your father still have his fox shocker?"

"Come on, Nick. He did not shock you last time!"

"That was before he knew that I'm eating his carrot, carrots".

Judy swallowed up on her pill and coughed. "Nick!" she snorts with laughter while holding her paw in front of her mouth and blushed. Nick patted her back with a sly grin. "He will not only shock you if you say something like that!"

"Okay, no talking about vegetables then".

"That could be difficult, given the fact that my family are mainly farmers", She winked. "But I will refer to your offer at a later time. However, I am in need of a hot shower! Want to join me?"

"I'm unobtrusively following you, Judy!"

* * *

After sharing a very long, hot and steamy shower, it was nearly noon. They grabbed some clean clothes and left for some lunch at a fast food outlet. Sitting outside of the store in the sun, each eating some fries and Veggie Burgers, Nick was the first to speak again. "Okay, let me recap this. You really said during an interview yesterday that you won the race together with your boyfriend. Your parents, being some country bumpkins, nevertheless watched this interview on TV. They have no idea, that this mysterious boyfriend is your partner on the force, much less a fox, and invited us to their home, so you can introduce your boyfriend to them. Did I forget anything about it?"

"Nope, that's pretty much it. But in my defense, I did not mention you as a boyfriend during the interview! I said that I won with my partner and friend. The news station concentrated that into 'boyfriend'".

"But you meant boyfriend, didn't you?" Nick sounded a bit unconfident, much to Judy's surprise.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why do you always question me about that? Are you so insecure?"

"I do not want to call it insecure…" Nick hesitated slowly. "I just still don't know why I deserve someone like you by my side, carrots. You could have chosen anyone".

Judy blushed, but smiled at him. "No idea, maybe I'm just a masochist. But you are everything I am looking for. So, to answer your last question: Yes. Yes, I meant my boyfriend in that interview. Happy now?"

"Maybe the happiest fox alive, carrots", Nick winked.

Judy's headache was better by now and she was already planning their weekend trip in detail. "First we have to pack a few clothes together. Maybe one backpack is enough for both of us? Whatever, we could take the train at 14:22 in the afternoon and arrive at 16:09 in the afternoon in Bunnyburrow. From there we can take the bus, so we don't have to meet my parents until we finally arrive". She was already typing her arrival time into her smartphone and sending it to her parents. "With John and Joshua coming, too, we can discuss the boyfriend topic first with mom and dad in private. When they are eased in, we can tell a few siblings and then it will reach everyone fast enough on the grapevine".

"Woah, take a break for a moment there, carrots", Nick winked at her. However, his heartbeat told Judy a different story: He was nervous, even somewhat scarred.

"Nick?" She bent over and put her paw onto his. "If you don't want to meet my parents, we…"

"No! No, it's okay, carrots. It is all just happening so fast".

"Okay, we can take it down a gear", Judy smiled. "Or at least, I can try", She added with a wink.

* * *

The rest of the noon past in next to no time. Judy packed some clothes for herself and Nick into a big backpack, as well as a few small presents she bought over time for her smaller siblings. Nick was off into the city, ' _Getting a present for your parents, carrots. First impressions matter!_ ' – she didn't tell him that it was too late for a first impression, as it would not be their first meet-up. But Nick wasn't in his best shape today, more twitchy than Judy had ever seen him. So it was best to have him out of her way for an hour. Maybe a present really could break the ice. At least she hoped, their parents wouldn't make it too awkward. Nick arrived shortly after two o 'clock, Judy already waiting with the backpack outside his apartment. He carried a bag of the size of a really big book, but not as heavy it seemed.

"Last-minute, as always Officer Wilde!"

Nick smiled apologetically and he kissed Judy until their Zuber taxi arrived. Nick held the door open for Judy and hurried to get in it, with their bags, too. "To the Main Railway Station, please!" – Judy ordered the driver and turned around to face Nick. "What did you get?" Prying for his bag, but the only thing she could see was some gift-wrapping paper.

Nick put on his sly grin. "You can guess three times, carrots".

Judy rolled her eyes, "Really?"

"Really! Come on, we have some time to kill".

* * *

' _If it wasn't for Judy, I would never have the guts to make this visit_ ', Nick thought to himself while they were boarding their train and searching for their compartment. The train was mostly empty, most people were driving to Zootopia for the Diversity Festival and only departing again tomorrow. But Nick had a very valid reason for driving with this train up to Bunnyburrow, and that reason was now just sitting right beside him with a bugged facial expression.

"Come on, that was at least seven guesses! If it is not a book about farming…"

"Nope".

"…then I have no idea. Just spell it out for me, pretty please?" she made really big and pleading eyes, looking directly into Nicks. The fox had to gulp down the lump in his throat and sighed defeated.

"Okay, okay, but don't look at me like that, carrots!" Judy smirked at him and was expectant while Nick was digging his phone out of his pocket, probably searching for a photo. He handed her his phone with a photo of Judy, jumping into the air with her medal in one hand. "I printed this photo at a copy shop, and put it with my exemplar of our medal into a wooden frame. What do you think?"

Judy was speechless for once. That was a really deliberated gift. "But Nick. It is your medal, you earned it! You can have mine when we are back, okay?"

"No need to, carrots. I already have the best prize of all!" He leaned into her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

Judy blushed and looked at the photo on the phone again. "This is a really some great idea, Nick. I bet they will love it!"

"Of course they will, it shows their sweetheart winning a contest!" Nick laughed and Judy joined in.

"Touché!"

Nick pulled out a deck of cards. "Freshly bought and still sealed, are you in for a few rounds of cards?"

* * *

The train arrived on time and they boarded the already waiting bus. "Are you terrified?" Judy asked him with a quiet voice. His heart was palpitating like a jack-hammer with every kilometer they neared her parents' home.

"I am not terrified!" Nick mumbled, twitching his paws. "Just a little… unsettled".

Judy put her paw on his and leaned against his shoulder. His heartbeat eased a bit and Nick breathed deeply. "Everything will be okay", Judy affirmed him, she drew his face to hers with her free paw and smiled lovingly. "For better or worse, I will be there for you. Always, Nick".

He returned her look. "I love you". It sounded more like the last words of a fey, but eventually he smiled.

"I love you, too". She reassured him, squeezing his paw lightly and giving him a nice and soft kiss on his snout. In secret, she hoped, it would not be as bad as Nick was thinking, but she was not too sure about it.

It was nearly half past four when they got off the bus and walked the rest of the way to the big house, that was sunk into a hill, and overgrown with grass. A few dozen younger rabbits were playing here and there all around the house. However, as soon as one of them saw Judy and called out her name, nearly all rabbits were up in arms, running to Judy, hugging her or hopping cheering around her. Nick carried their backpack and was mainly unnoticed. Alerted by the shouting and cheering, Stu and Bonnie Hopps soon appeared out of the house with a big, happy smile.

"Jude the Dude!" her father shouted and spread his arms wide. Judy freed herself from her siblings and hugged her father heartily.

Next was her mother "Oh, Judy, my dear! It's so great that you made it!"

Nick was lopping carefully to Judy's side, waiting for her to finish hugging her parents.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad! Good to see you, and this is…" she was pointing in Nicks direction. However, at that moment Stu Hopps' face lost a little of its friendliness, but shook hands with Nick.

"Nick Wilde, sure thing! We already met last weekend". Her father said with a friendly tone, but Nick believed he recognized some undertone within it. Nevertheless, he greeted him as friendly as he could, Bonnie Hopps also greeted him with a smile, however also less excited just like her husband.

"Come in, you two! Joshua's already arrived with his family". Judy's mother turned to Nick again. "He is one of the few older siblings of Judy, together with John and Jana", Nick smiled with a nod, but was still feeling queasy.

"Sorry, we only prepared one room. But we will prepare another one after having tea", Stu said to Nick. "The guest room is just along the corridor, the first room on the left side. You can place your stuff there before we sit down at the table".

"I will show him!" Judy said quickly and rushed past Nick, gesturing for him to follow her. When they arrived in the guest room she wanted to say something, but two really small rabbits ran into the room. When they saw Nick, they made a hard stop and looked slightly scared. Nick tried his best to make a tame face and Judy intervened at once.

"Hey, Amie, Annabelle! This is Nick, my best friend and partner at work! He is really nice", she squatted before them and smiled. Amie was first to jumped towards the astonished Nick and hugged his leg.

"Hello Nick! I'm Amie!" Nick patted her head and smiled softly.

"Hi Amie, my dear". Annabelle was not as brisk but quickly got jealous when her sister was patted, so she rushed to hug Nicks other leg and shouted.

"And I am Annabelle!"

Nick laughed lightly and also patted her on her head. "Nice to meet you, too, Annabelle".

Judy was moonily watching her youngest siblings hugging the at least ten times her size fox, and Nick trying to look as harmless as he could. ' _Two done, 273 to go_ ' she thought.

After a while they sat at the big table in the dining room: Nick, Judy, Bonnie, Stu, Joshua with his wife and 17 kits and 44 of Judy's siblings. After each was served some cake pie – ' _Blueberry!_ ' Nick exclaimed exited to Judy who giggled nervous – they started to eat. After having a few bites Bonnie asked:

"So, you two teamed up for the sport competition Judy told us about?" her voice was a little shaky, but she sipped on her tea immediately.

Nick stayed quiet, looking at Judy. She returned his look, then turned to her mother. "Yes, the kayak-running-biathlon is a two-person-team competition, and getting the third place was really amazing, the rivalry was really strong!" – silence again. Nick thought about giving Judy's parents their gift, fitting the topping right now.

But at that moment Stu spoke out. "You must forgive us for our rude behavior, Mister Wilde". Her father was now speaking with a friendly tone. "But when we told Judy to visit us, we expected her to bring her boyfriend. Not her, you know partner on the force".

"Dad!" Judy cut him off, and Bonnie was also feeling queasy, plucking her husband's sleeve to gain his attention.

"What? I only wanted to tell him, we just … what?" He turned to his wife who mumbled something but Judy was at it again.

"You asked to bring my boyfriend, so what is the matter?"

"Excuse me?" it was the first time Joshua said something, but this caused Judy to turn to him now.

"Yes, Nick is my partner on the force. But yes, he is also my boyfriend! We lov…"

"He is what!?" – her father almost shouted.

"How dare you!" Joshua's voice was loud and angered. "This beast is your…"

He couldn't finish his sentence when Bonnie said "Joshua, please!"

"Close shot, Bon, at least he is a fox!"

"Dad!"

"Judy, dear…"

"Mom!"

"Judy!"

"Pred-Chaser!" the last word came from Joshua.

"Douchebag!" Judy shouted.

"Joshua!" Bonnie Hopps said in a sharp tone.

"Judith Laverne Hopps! As long as you are in my house…" her father shouted but Judy interrupted him again.

"What about Joshua? We are talking about my partner and boyfriend, not some foreigner!" Nick slowly stood up during the fierce crosstalk and excused himself with some polite words, still showing a smile on his snout. However, Judy knew he was deeply injured and offended and even his best deadpan was starting to crumble by now.

* * *

**_Judy's vantage point_ **

She wanted to grab Nicks paw when he walked past her, but it just slipped from her hands, and Nick vanished out of the front door. Her first instinct was to run after him, but she was angry. Angry enough to let out a rant against her father and especially her older brother Joshua. Both were replying something but she didn't stop her ranting until a big and soft paw was put on her shoulder. Judy turned her head to continue her bluster but the strict and benignant face of her mother made her become silent.

"Judith!" Bonnie said assertively. "I realize you are probably a bit angry".

"A bit angry?!"

"Judith! Your younger siblings are listening, please!" Maybe it was her steady and still affectionate voice that made Judy quieten. In addition, her mother was right; a few dozen agitated and bewildered faces of little bunnies were staring at Judy right now.

"I am sorry, mum", She said, struggling to keep her voice quiet. "But I never would have guessed I had such bigoted siblings!" Judy was looking at Joshua, who simmered with rage.

"Judith Laverne Hopps!" Stu said her full name the second time within minutes.

"Or a father, embittered by the prejudice of foxes!"

"Judith, please", Bonnie tried to conciliate again.

"And even you, mom! I trusted that you would understand this, since you partner with Gideon Grey!"

"But that doesn't mean we have a threesome with him in our corn fields!" Stu blurted out angrily, but immediately regretted it.

"Stu!" / "Dad!" His wife, Judy and Joshua shouted as one. The old rabbit stood up, throwing his napkin down onto his plate and left the room with large and angry steps.

"Judith…" her mother turned to her again with a pleading look on her face.

"I love him mom!" Judy blurted and responded her look tenaciously.

"But…"

"No ' _but_ 's! I'm really happy together with him, how can you not see this?" Her mother's shoulders sank and Judy broke away from her, trying to run after Nick. She was just a few steps in front of the house when Joshua's voice stopped her.

"Are you totally insane, Jude?" His voice was calm but full of anger. Judy turned around with a deadly look.

"I'm feeling better than ever, nice of you to ask!" her voice was overturning.

"He is a damn fox!"

"He is a fox, a police officer and my boyfriend! And his name is Nick!"

"After all that you have experienced in your childhood, you still come to a fox's defense? He rigged you quite good after all!"

In Judy's mind, no further words were enough for this argument, and with a strong leap she was right beside Joshua and punched him hard into his side. Joshua repaid her by kicking against her legs and shortly after they were scrapping. Bonnie Hopps was standing helpless beside them and tried to calm them down, with no effort. When Joshua punched Judy into her stomach, she fell backward against a wooden cart with some straw and boxes with fruits and vegetables their parents had brought back from the market. Judy picked herself up, ran up to Joshua, and jumped right into his side.

"Judy! Joshua! Please stop!" Bonnie was pleading again, but it was Stu's loud voice, full of panic, which ended their fight abruptly.

"Amie!", followed by an even louder bang of wood and metal shivering.

* * *

**_Stu's vantage point_ **

He slammed the backdoor shut when he left the house. Stu had let himself go, something very atypical of him, and he was annoyed about it. "How could she! Not only was she not going with a rabbit, but with a fox!" he cursed to himself. Yes, they collaborated with Gideon. However, this was business, and a profitable one. Nevertheless, he counted the cakes and the money twice when trading with the fox. Stu was raised and educated, that foxes are mammals you cannot count on. "And yet so much time has passed since then!" But his cutie pie, together with a fox? Maybe even rotting…? Stu smacked his head. "Oh god, don't even think about it, Stu!" he said to himself.

Over time, his feet had driven him towards the near carrot fields. Most of his kits were still playing and romping around and he sighed. It had to be this big far away city. All of his other kits who were old enough were filling his shoes on farming. He had overwritten quite a good part of his land to his oldest sons, and his oldest daughters married all well-heeled rabbits out of Bunnyburrow. The only one who left her hometown was Judy, becoming a police officer and all that in Zootopia. And what happened to her? Judy was always his favorite daughter and it was a big disappointment when she left a year and a half ago. But now she was even flirting with a fox from the city! This was all too much for him now.

Stu Hopps heard the laugher of one of his youngest ones, Amie. He smiled softly and turned around to look for her, but froze at once.

"Amie! Get away from that fox!" he shouted and made a gesture as if he wanted to wag away a wasp. The little bunny stood in front of Nick and looked bemused at her father up the hill. Stu made another distinct gesture and Amie let her head sank. She did something wrong, that much was clear to her, but she did not know what. Nick on the other hand figured it out immediately. He got up to his feet, waved smiling a goodbye to Amie and toddled off. Stu started to walk down the hill to get to Amie who still was standing there, like a little lost girl. It was a loud rumbling that caught Stu's attention. He casted about for the source of the noises getting louder, and finally he saw his big wooden cart bolting down the other side of the hill, right in Amie's direction. He started to run, knowing that he would never reach his child in time. His voice was filled with a deadly terror when he screamed her name.

"Amie!"

Seconds later the cart collided checkless with the tree, in front of which Amie stood moments ago.

* * *

**_Nick's vantage point_ **

He couldn't bear the yelling any longer. With a resigned shrug, he stood up from the table. "I'm sorry for the discomfort; I'm going for a walk", Nick mumbled. Judy reached out for him – her touch flashed through his body – but he did not hold her paw. His whole body was stressed to keep a cool face, but inwardly he broke into pieces. This whole argument was about him; it was his fault. Fighting against prejudice in the city was different, he admitted. There were always Mammals calling him names, and in the past, they were often right. He was a Conmammal back then. Since he was an Officer with the ZPD he was treated differently, but it never died down completely. He coped with it. But this guilt he felt was not about him being treated badly, but he felt bad because of Judy. With all she had to bear because of him, it was a miracle to him that she still returned his love. However, this time it was her family, and Nick would draw the line at exactly this point. Maybe he was worth all the trouble he caused for Judy until now. But he definitely did not want to be the reason she would be at odds with her family! She would be eventually. Well, of course, she would – she is Judy Hopps, first rabbit officer of the ZPD! However, Nick could never demand this from her.

He reached a few trees near the road where the bus stop was. Perhaps he should just take the next bus. Weak-minded he stood there, looking over the countless fields and hills in front of him; when he sensed a light twitching on his tail. He turned around and in front of him stood one of those little bunnies he met first in the house, and the only ones that somewhat welcomed him. He tossed his sad face away and smiled softly, hunkering down.

"Hi, you are Anabelle or Amie, right?"

"I am Amie!" the little rabbit smiled brightly and Nick returned her smile. "You have a really big and fluffy tail, Nicky!" she giggled. Nick had to smile again. This small and pure bunny made him forget about the argument for a short moment.

"Oh, really? How does that grab you?" He winked and tossed his tail around him to nudge Annie with it. The kit laughed and jumped.

"You are funny!" she determined, and with a short jump, she was at Nicks legs and hugged him. Nick laughed, patted her head and enlaced her with his tail playfully. "Can we play tag together, Nicky?" She pleaded with big round eyes. The foxed smiled benignly but then sighed.

"I don't think that your parents would like that idea, Amie".

"Why not? I am always playing tag with my siblings!"

"Yeah…" Nick rubbed with his hand behind his head. "But I don't think they like me all too much".

"But Judy likes you?" This little bunny was putting him on the spot.

"Yes, I think so".

"Then I like you, too!" she declared, and her determined and happy grin definitely reminded Nick of Judy.

"Amie! Get away from that fox!" her father shouted from up the hill to them. Nick's shoulders and ears dropped and the little bunny was looking perplexed at her father. Stu pointed right at his feet, directing Annie to get to him immediately.

Nick waved goodbye to Amie: "Sorry, my little princess, I have to go now. Go to your dad, okay?" And with this words he slowly walked away in the direction of the bus stop behind a curve.

Nick had finally decided to drive back to the station and then back to Zootopia with the next train. Judy would understand. When she came back tomorrow, he would talk to her and break up with her. He had made a lot of mistakes in his life, coming to Bunnyburrow being his latest, but he would not take the blame for Judy being at odds with her family. This sacrifice was just too big. He sat down at the bus stop, when he heard some loud rumbling. There was some shouting, too. Somewhat concerned he sprung up and rushed around the corner of the street. Shocked, he realized a big wagon has gone rampant and was racing up to the trees he and Amie were standing at only a minute ago. Without thinking about it any further he ran in that direction as fast as he could.

"Amie!" Stu Hopps was screaming with deadly terror in his voice. Nick saw the little, sweet bunny still standing where he left her, the wagon only a dozen meters away. His inner fox senses wanted him to hesitate, but every cop-sense was fighting against it. He ran even faster. With a last leap, he pushed the startled bunny aside. ' _Oh god, thank you!_ ' he thought.

A dull impact made his whole body spin around and get crushed between the tree and the wagon. It didn't even hurt. Nick saw a few leaves falling down from the tree onto his face. The last image he saw was that of a lovely bunny. "Judy…" Then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Sean Dalglish for his review and proofreading this chapter! (Feb 2017)


	5. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy was all in cop-mode now. There was an accident, some witnesses and nervous participants. Her job was to ease the situation and getting a witness report from a small and probably scared kit. “What happened then after pa was getting angry?” Judy talked soothing to Amie, who was now sitting on Bonnies shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](https://youtu.be/ryXRwoTEUBY?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)
> 
> ### This chapter is also available as an _[audio drama on YouTube!](https://youtu.be/ryXRwoTEUBY?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)_

Stu Hopps was the first at the scene of accident, closely followed by Judy. Joshua was limping but kept up with Bonnie Hopps, both chasing after Judy down the hill. It all happened within a few seconds and the scene was a mess. With infinite ease Stu lunged at Amie, who was lying in the midst of the wagons debris. Judy breathed a sigh of relief when she captured the situation and Amie was in good health, albeit scared. Joshua and Bonnie were joining Stu and Bonnie took Amie in her arms, hugging her firm to herself.

Stu blurted to Judy: “Are you satisfied now? Your escapades nearly …. nearly … injured your little sister!”

Judy was getting furious all over again. “You are really going to blame me for this?! Joshua…”

“At least I have still my sanity and not sharing the bed with a fox!”

“Guys…” Bonnie tried to settle the situation again but was simply ignored.

“Oh, put a cork in it, Josh!”

“Judith! That’s the last straw!” her father was raising his voice again. “No strong language on my property!”

Judy snorted an evil laugh that made all the others flinch. Finally, Bonnie mumbled something and started to walk back to the house, Amie in her arms.

“You have absolute no right to call us off about strong language after all”, Judy spitted the words. She was really angry about her brother and her parents, especially her father. They don’t even know Nick and prejudged him the second they learned they were in love.

Eventually the small and quiet voice of Amie, already a few meters away with her mother, got her best attention: “I am okay, mom. But what about Nicky? He might have a boo-boo”.

Her father and brother were still chatting to her about something, but Judy didn’t listen anymore. Within a second she sprinted beside her mother. “What is it with Nicky, Amie?”

“He made a funny but scary noise”.

Her mother intervened “She is just somewhat bewildered, don’t listen…”

Judy quietened her mother with an authoritarian gesture and talked with certainty but calmly to Amie. “What noise did he make? Did he say something to you?”

“No, he made it when he poked me”.

Stu was starting to rant again. “You hear that? He pushed your sister around and scared her!”

“Dad! That’s enough!” Judy was twitchy and suddenly had a bad feeling. “Did Nicky annoy you, Amie?” Judy asked, again calm.

Her sister shook her head. “No, he was funny! But then pa was angry with me. I don’t know why”.

“The fox…!” Stu began, but one look from Judy and he became silent at once.

Judy was all in cop-mode now. There was an accident, some witnesses and nervous participants. Her job was to ease the situation and get a witness report from a small and probably scared kit. “What happened then after pa was got angry?” Judy talked soothingly to Amie, who was now sitting on Bonnies shoulder.

“There was this loud noise, I was scared. And then Nicky poked me and I fell onto the grass where pa picked me up right after”, Amie reported with pride, sensing that she was telling something very important to her big sister. It took Judy a few seconds until all the gears in her brain were latching in the right place. Her ears dropped at once and the thought horrified her. ‘Nick’.

An icy claw reached for her heart the very second she turned around and rushed back to the tree where the wagon crashed, knocking Joshua and her dad over in the process. Judy scanned the bigger debris around the tree until she found a red-brown bushy tail beneath some trays. She yelped and fall to her knees, pushing the trays away. Nick was in a bad condition. There was blood seeping from a wound at his head and stomach, one arm distorted in a morbid direction.

“Cheese and crackers! Nick! Please…” her voice cracked and she took his paw and stroked his cheek but the fox didn’t react. Judy tried to concentrate her sense of hearing, but she could not listen to his heartbeat. Her own sobbing and her palpitating heart overlapped everything else.

“He’s finally dead?” it was Joshua’s voice again from behind, but Judy did not listen to him. Her mother stood there in shock, masking Amie’s eyes, and her dad was kneeling down beside Judy.

“Is he…?” he started and wanted to feel Nick’s pulse at his neck, but Judy beat him nearly shouting.

“Don’t! Touch! Him!” Judy leaned protectively above him and sobbed helplessly. “Call Doctor Greenwood! Now!” she cried above her shoulder to no one special, then stroked Nick’s face softly. “Nick! Hang in there! Don’t leave me this way, you dumb fox”.

 

* * *

 

Maybe it was hours or just minutes, Judy could not tell. Her right paw was pressed against the bleeding on Nick’s stomach to try and stop it. She had managed to lay his head onto her thighs, her other paw stroking his face continuously. The rabbit managed to feel his pulse, it was weak and slow. She didn’t move or say anything when an older rabbit with black fur and a bit bag knelt opposite against her. Doctor Greenwood had been the family doctor since Judy could remember and the only one right now she would trust to examine Nick. With a gentle but distinct gesture, he took Judy’s paw from the abdominal wound. Her fur was soaked with Nick’s blood and when she wiped her tears away, her paw left a creepy trail of blood across her face.

“He has lost quite some blood. Why did nobody mention on the phone he is badly injured?” Doctor Greenwood asked angrily with a look of reproach to Bonnie and Stu, who were standing a few meters away. Without waiting for an answer, he pushed a button on his headset, connected to the radio on his belt-mount.

“Doctor on call, requesting an emergency ambulance to the Hopps’ Farm for a fox, not addressable, bleeding abdominally and from head wounds and probably has several fractures. Over”. Then, looking to Judy. “Are you okay?” She just nodded marginally. The old rabbit pulled quite a lot of pads and gauze bandages from his bag, squeezing them onto Nick’s abdominal wound. “Press your paws onto this! Don’t hesitate, you have to apply quite some pressure to the wound so the bleeding will stop”. Judy sobbed quietly and did as she was told automatically. Greenwood nodded approvingly and examined Nick’s other wounds. “You are Judy Hopps, right?” he asked, to keep her busy and from falling into a shock state. She nodded again. The doctor applied a compression bandage to Nick’s head that was still resting on Judy’s legs. “Can you tell me his name?”

“N…Nick. Nicholas W... Wilde…” she sniveled quietly. In the distance, siren could be heard.

Doctor Greenwood displaced her grip on the abdominal wound. “You know him?”

“My part… partner... police... and boy… boyfriend…” Judy sobbed drenched in tears, holding Nick’s face with her paws.

The doctor wanted to answer something, but at that moment the ambulance arrived and stopped with screeching tires. Two paramedics, both deer, jumped out of the car, got a stretcher from the trunk and hurried to Judy, Nick and Greenwood. With expert movements, they lifted Nick onto the stretcher, fixing him with belts. Judy hovered over him the whole time. Even when the old rabbit tried to hold her back when the deer tried to carry Nick to the ambulance, she did not stir from the spot.

“Judy. Judy, listen, please”. He held her at her shoulders and turned her towards him. “Judy Hopps!” She finally managed to dispense her sight from Nick and looked at Doctor Greenwood with red, tearstained eyes. The blood smears on her face giving her an alarming appearance. “I have to drive with Nick, there is not enough room in the car for you, too, I am really sorry”. He shook her again as she wanted to cut loose from his grip. “Judy! Listen, please. There is nothing you can do right now, and I am worried that you are going to fall into shock”.

He waved to her parents, who were still standing a few meters away in silence. Bonnie walked towards him, giving Stu a gesture to keep back with a strange look on her face. Doctor Greenwood was not sure what exactly happened, but Judy talking about his patient as a boyfriend and the current reservation of her parents gave him an idea.

“Mrs. Hopps, would you please help Judy to clean-up?” And when Judy wanted to cut loose again, he added: “I want to see her right afterwards in the hospital for a complete check-up”. Bonnie nodded. Judy’s mother wanted to say that Judy was not involved in the accident, but the determined look on Greenwood’s face made it clear that there was no room for discussion. Eventually it was only a pretense, but this was not the right time and place to talk about Judy’s relationship. The Doctor nodded, too, and rushed into the waiting ambulance. The siren howled again and they disappeared within seconds.

Bonnie Hopps put a paw on Judy’s shoulder, the latter still looking stock-still on her blood-soaked paws. Judy shook her mothers’ paw off.

“My dear…” her mother started, but Judy walked off to their house.

“Judy…” her father started when she passed him, but she just ignored him.

It hurt her chest to be so harsh to her parents, but right now she wasn’t able to talk to them about what happened or about Nick. What hurt even more than ignoring her parents was the thought of Nick now. She saw her surroundings through a mist. A few of her siblings were approaching her, but froze when they saw her bloodied fur. It did not matter to her. She rushed through the front door, past Joshua and his family, went into the guest room and grabbed her and Nick’s backpack. There was also a full-length mirror right beside the door; Judy stared at it and her mirror image, then it all came crashing down about her ears. She fell onto her knees, burying her face into her paws and weeping untenably.

* * *

In this state, Evelin found her a short time later. She was about a year younger than her older sister, but resembled the same fur and eye color. Evelin just had a few dark spots in and around her ears.

“Hey, sis”, she squatted beside Judy, putting her arm around her. Nick’s partner turned to Evelin and hugged her. “There, there. Let it go, Juju…” she patted her back and held her sister firmly. In the meantime, Bonnie stood in the doorframe and watched them in silence. Evelin gestured for her to leave them alone with an impatient look; Bonnie sighed but left them alone. After a while Judy stopped weeping and sobbed quietly.

“Thanks, Eve. It was … it was all too …”

“Shh… it is okay”, Evelin interrupted her and stroked along her ears and head.

“I have … go … to the hospital …” Judy sobbed and wiped her arm over her face.

“First we have to clean you up. You look like you were injured, too, Juju”. Evelin straightened up, taking Judy’s paw and firmly pulled her up. “Come on, I will help you…”

Judy did not say anything but let Evelin take her with her. She followed her into a bathroom and nearly started to cry again as she saw her mirror image.

“Hey…” Evelin said softly and stood between the mirror and Judy. “Everything will be fine, including your boyfriend. What is his name again?” she asked and conducted Judy to the edge of the bathtub.

“Nick”. Judy said worn out and sat down on the edge.

Her sister let hot water run into the sink, took a sponge from the shelf and soaked it in the water. “Come on, give me your paws” Unopposed Judy obeyed and Evelin started to rub some soap with hot water into her fur. The blood had already dried and it took a while to clean her paws and arms up. Then Evelin started to clean her sisters face and ears. “How long have you two been dating?” she asked with a smile to distract her older sister somewhat.

“Since … a week ago… it is serious. But… we have been close… friends for quite … a while”. Judy sounded more calm now, but her voice was dull and erratic.

“I think he is cute”, Evelin winked and started to scrub Judy dry with a towel. “And you two make a sweet couple. Just give Mom and Dad some time”.

“Mhmhh…” Judy mumbled through the towel.

When Evelin finished, she stroked Judy’s cheek, still smiling. Her big sister was now settled and finally looked alive again with her clean fur. “Thanks, Eve…” Judy spoke quietly but coherently again. “I have to go now to the…”

Evelin interrupted her. “I will drive you to the hospital with my scooter, okay sis? This is much faster, and more safe in your current state. Do you need to take anything with you?” She shook hands with Judy, who hopped from the bathtub’s edge.

“Thanks again, Eve… for everything”. Judy hugged her sister firmly and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

“For you always, Juju”, Evelin smiled and went ahead.

* * *

Evelin set Judy down in the Hospital of Bunnyburrow, handing her the backpack. “Are you sure you are okay? I can go in with you, sis”.

Judy shook her head and gave her younger sister a quick hug. “Thank you, you already did enough Eve. I cannot ask any more of you”.

“Okay, but I will come back again in a few hours to look after you two. In the meantime, I will have a talk with Mom and Dad. Oh… and Josh – just ignore him, he always was a fuddy-duddy dork”. Evelin winked and Judy waved her a short goodbye, then rushed through the revolving door into the clinic.

* * *

“No, you don’t listen! My partner was hospitalized after an accident about an hour ago! His name is Nicholas Wilde! And I want to see him, now!” Judy’s fatigue was gone and replaced by anger.

“I’m afraid, Miss I am not allowed to give out patient data, and as you are clearly not a family member, I really cannot help you. Would you please ease off now, or I’ll have to call security”.

Judy was at the end of her tether and was now bellowing: “My name is Officer Judy Hopps, I am a member of the Zootopia Police Department, just like Officer Wilde, my partner!”

“Ma’am, could you identify yourself with your badge and ID card?” It was a ram in a security uniform, standing right behind her.

“Oh, of course. When my partner was bleeding to death all I could think of while hurrying here was taking my badge”. Judy answered with dripping sarcasm, Nick would be proud of her. ‘Nick!’ “Just call Doctor Greenwood! He knows me and will vouch for me! Or I will search through the whole hospital on my own!”

“Please calm down, Officer Hobes”.

“Hopps!”

“Whatever, you are not a family member and cannot identify yourself. Please leave, peacefully”.

“Sweet cheese and crackers…” Judy cursed and wanted to walk past the ram, who caught her at her shoulder. That was really too much for the rabbit and with a brisk move she ducked down, shooing around the security guard and jumped right into his back with her hind legs. That took the ram totally flatfooted and off his feet.

“Miss Hopps…!” Doctor Greenwood was coming with quick steps down the hall. Judy looked up in his direction and let the ram go, whose arm she was bending behind his back.

“Doctor Greenwood! Finally! How is Nick?” Judy’s voice was relieved and pleading. “Is he okay?”

The medic made a pacifying gesture to the ram, who was picking himself up, chuntering something and walking away. Then the old rabbit turned to the nurse at the reception. “We just got the medical file of Mister Wilde transmitted by the Zootopia-Plainsboro Hospital. I just entered his hospitalizing data into the system. Miss Hopps is recorded as his Emergency Contact, please issue her an unlimited visitor pass for life partners”. He winked to Judy with a quick smile while the nurse entered the data and printed a badge for Judy.

“Thank you for your support, Doctor Greenwood”, Judy said while they both walked down an aisle to the ICU. “Although it’s a pity you had to lie for me. Such churlishness is not my normal behavior, you know”.

“It is okay, Judy. I really understand that you are upset. But I haven’t lied”. The medic smiled softly when he noticed Judy’s inquiring look. “You really are his recorded emergency contact. You did not know that? Perhaps I pushed too hard when saying you two are life partners”.

“No…” was everything Judy could say. They had to specify an emergency contact when joining the force; and Judy had specified her parents, of course. She had no idea that Nick chose her. After a few more steps, she asked again. “How is Nick?” she repeated her first question to him.

“We had to perform surgery to stop the abdominal bleeding. We also had to splint his right leg and left arm. He may also have a concussion. We cannot say as he has not yet woken up from the anesthesia”. Doctor Greenwood put a paw on a door handle and stopped. “Are you prepared? It looks much worse than it really is, but I think he will recover completely”.

Judy nodded slowly and gulped. The old rabbit opened the door and they both stepped in. She covered her mouth with a paw when she saw Nick. He lay in an oversized hospital bed, connected to a heart monitor and an infusion pump; around his head was a big bandage. The heart monitor was beeping slowly and frequently, and this time Judy could also hear his heartbeat at the same time with her ears. She hurried to his side and embraced his paw in hers.

“I will give you some time alone and will come back in about an hour for some further examinations”. Doctor Greenwood said quietly and closed the door behind him.

* * *

Judy sat beside Nicks bed, stroking his paw and cheek for the whole day. He did not wake up, but was in a stable condition. A nurse tried to convince Judy a few times to go home and have some rest, but she refused to leave every time. It was after midnight; the bunny had rested her head against Nick’s body, her arms carefully embracing his torso. She dozed off from time to time, the slow heartbeat of the fox was soothing to her, thinking about the last few hours.

Evelin brought her some fresh fruits from the farm earlier that day, and a bouquet of self-picked flowers for Nick; together with a hand drawn card from Amie, showing a stick figure fox and a lot of bunnies around him. In her scrawly handwriting she wrote ‘Get well soon, Nicky!’ with a heart. Evelin also brought her a message from her parents, but Judy refused to hear it. ‘Not yet. It is too early and I am too angry; Nick needs my full attention right now’, she said to her younger sibling. Evelin understood and did not pile on the pressure.

‘Why has he not woken up yet? The anesthesia should have worren quite some time ago!’ Judy had asked Doctor Greenwood a few hours ago on his late visit. He explained to her that the wounds could be tricky and they did not want to wake him up with drugs so his body could recover. Being patient had to be the only thing that Judy was really bad at.

Chief Bogo had called her, alarmed by the request of Nick’s medical records. All requests about active ZPD officers were automatically reported to the department. Judy explained that an accident happened, leaving out the argument with her family. She also took a few days off, making it clear that she could not leave Nick alone in Bunnyburrow and his state was not stable enough for transportation to Zootopia right now. Bogo made her promise to give him an update as soon as possible and forwarded the best wishes of all her colleagues for a swift recovery.

Finally, at about 3 o’clock in the morning, Judy was overpowered by exhaustion: She crawled into the bed beside Nick, putting his non-fractured arm around her body and her own arm around his chest. It was good to feel Nick’s warm body beside hers and after she kissed him on his cheek, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Sean Dalglish for his review and proofreading this chapter! (Feb 2017)


	6. Pride & Prejudice & Rabbits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She and Nick had won the 3rd place in the biathlon about 60 hours ago; previous to 36 hours they were dancing and partying like there is no tomorrow; and in the last 24 hours she had a bad argument with her family, and Nick had been in an accident and is unconscious since then. How could her life change so quick and abrupt? She had undergone her highest highs and lowest lows in less than 60 hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](https://youtu.be/MIpP7dPbeMM?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)
> 
> ### This chapter is also available as an _[audio drama on YouTube!](https://youtu.be/MIpP7dPbeMM?list=PLIVs1D93vz38riF4nqo5uTmGpoU1yWeko)_

Judy wakes up when the nurse of the morning shift walks into the Nicks’ room. The look of the young sheep was friendly, but also somewhat dispraising when she sees the rabbit in Nicks’ bed.

“Good morning, Miss Hopps. Did the pat… I mean Mister Wilde woke up, yet?” she notes some data from the monitors into a patient file, then turns around to Judy who has climbed out of the bed and onto the chair again.

“Not that I know of, I am sorry.” Judy answers a bit tire and sad.

“This is nothing uncommon, Miss Hopps. Just be patient, the doctor in charge will be here in about an hour.”

“Okay. Can you tell me what time it is?”

“Its seven minutes past six.” The nurse gave her a short smile, then left the room quietly.

Judy looks concerned to Nick, stroking gently his cheek. Then her eyes travelled over the rest of the room. There are no windows; except from the monitors and various medical emergency devices, only a small table is in the corner of the room. On it is a glass with water and the flowers Evelin brought yesterday. Under the table their common bag is laying. The corresponding plastic chair for the table took Judy beside Nicks’ bed, now sitting on it. Opposite the table is a small basin, a mirror, a soap and a germicide dispenser. The heart monitor beeps quiet but frequent, the transfusion still dripping every few seconds. On the whole, the room was just as clinical and sterile as Judy would has imagined a hospital room.

“Hey, Nick.” She turned to the fox again, encloses his paw in hers and speaking quietly with a soft voice. “I do not know if you can hear me, but I once read about patients in a coma, that they can recognize familiar voices. I just want you to know, that I am here; and that I will not leave your side. So better you don’t try to steal away to where I cannot follow you.” Judy sighs, stroking with her thumb over the back of his paw. “Amie had drawn you a cute picture. Oh, and she had picked some flowers for you. I put them into a glass with water; hopefully you are not allergic to them.” She smiled lightly. “Evelin thinks you are cute. She is one of my younger sisters and a really close friend. I think you will like her, she is very similar to me, you know? But don’t get any naughty thoughts, I keep an eye on you!”

Rubbing with her muzzle over the back of his hand, Judy buries her nose into Nicks’ fur. “Bogo said you can take a day or two off tomorrow, until you are strong enough for your cheeky comments again during his morning briefing.” She snickers quietly. “Joking aside, Bogo and the rest of the precinct are worried, too. And I should message their best wishes for you. I even took some leave days. Oh, and Clawhauser said he will send you a gift basket; hopefully not only donuts, or you two will soon share the same dress size.”

A single tear runs from Judy’s eye over her cheek. “I am so sorry, Nick. It is all my fault. It was me who caused the wagon to go rampage! And never should I have persuaded you to visit my parents out of the blue so soon. And I should not have given this stupid interview. And it was also my idea to participate for this competition in the first place. When we would have done regular patrol on this day, nothing of this would have happened! Please forgive me, Nick. I am just a stupid bunny. But I am your stupid bunny, so please forgive me and wake up.” Judy started to weep again, her muzzle pushed into the blanket covering Nick.

Doctor Greenwood stands in the doorframe and clears his throat. Judy snuffles and turns her head to him. “Oh. Doctor Greenwood. I didn’t notice you.”

“It is okay, Judy. I hope you have slept for a while?” He walked to the other side of the bed, checking first Nicks medical journal, then listens to his heartbeat with a stethoscope.

“Two hours, maybe three. I am accustomed to it.”

“Just like me; medical staffs’ and police officers’ schedule is very similar I bet. But neither of us should push it too hard.” He put his stethoscope down and notes some data to the journal. Then he reached for the bandage on Nicks’ head, but hesitates. “I will have to take a look at his wounds, change the bandages, and so forth. Maybe you want to go to the cafeteria as long as it takes.”

Judy shakes her head and leans back on her chair, but still holding Nicks paw with hers. “If it is okay with you, I would like to stay.”

The doctor thinks for a moment, then nods and continued to unwind the bandage around Nicks’ head. He finishes the moment when the same nurse from an hour ago enters the room with a tablet, containing gauze bandages, a dark unction, a bottle with tincture, pads and other medical accessories. “Excuse me, Miss Hopps. But I need to get to your side of the bed to assist.”

Judy nods, slips from the chair, giving Nicks’ paw a last rub with her chin and walks slowly to the table. She bends forward and searched the backpack for a fresh shirt. The doctor and the nurse were busy, so Judy quickly changes her shirt, then walked to the sink. She splashes some cold water into her face, drying herself with some paper towels. Then she walked back to the foot of the bed, watching Doctor Greenhouse currently swabbing Nicks’ abdominal wound with the tincture and pads.

“How is he?” she asks nervously, hardly able to take a look.

“The wound looks good, no inflammation so far and it started to heal already. The same for his head wound.” Latter was already bandaged with new gaze.

“But why does he not wake up then?” Judy’s voice was half pleading, half nervous.

“As I told you yesterday, head wounds can be tricky. At the moment his body needs every bit of energy for recovery, and staying unconscious aids it.” He smiled in her direction. “But you can still talk to him, this will not do any harm. And maybe he even senses you being nearby. You just have to be patient a little more.” The nurse hands him some gaze and bandages, then Doctor Greenwood applies them and looks satisfied. “We will change this again this evening. And give him a new transfusion at …” he looks on his pocket watch. “… 8 o’clock.”

The nurse makes some notes, then nods and leaves the room. Judy walked to the chair again and sits down, immediately reaching for Nicks’ paw again. “Thank you, Doctor Greenwood.”

“Don’t mention it, Judy. I am your families doctor since at least 55 years. And of course I will spend special attention to your partner, too.” The old rabbit smiles mildly.

“I would wish, my parents would see Nick as part of the family, too.” Judy’s look was slightly angry, but also worried and sad; it was really difficult to account for a specific emotion in her face right now, and even Judy is not sure what she is feeling about the situation exactly. For the last 12 hours she distracted herself from the previous argument, Nick was her current top-priority.

Doctor Greenwood looks enquiring to Judy, not sure if he should ask further questions. “I did not ask about the accident in the first place yesterday. And it can wait until Nick is awaken. But I have to fill an accident report for requesting his medical records. Your parents did not…?” he stopped discretely.

“What? No, no they did no harm to him. Physically that is.” When the old rabbit did not respond, Judy added inertly: “They threw a tantrum the moment they realized Nick and I are not only partners on the force, but also dating. One of my litter-brothers lost it completely. And we had a really bad argument.” Her look goes to Nick and Judy strokes with her free paw over his cheek. “Nick left the house, and shortly after the accident with the wagon happened. I am not totally sure what happened exactly, but as far as I could reconstruct he prevented that this wagon overrun one of my youngest sisters.”

“Then he is a real hero, my dear! You can be proud of him.”

“I am!” Judy smiled. “And I am really overjoyed that Amie was not injured! But …” Judy hesitates.

“What is it Judy? Something is agonizing you.”

“It is all my fault!” she started crying again. “I set off the wagon by accident during a punch-up with my brother. I not only nearly injured my sibling, but I am responsible for… for … “she made a gesture to Nick, but could not say it loud.

“Oh my dear. Judy…” Doctor Greenwood quickly walks around the bed and put his arm around Judy’s shoulders. “It only was an accident, and Nick will recover completely, I am sure. Don’t burden with the fault for everything. You are overthinking this.” He hands her a handkerchief and pats her back while she wipes her tears away.

“Thanks...”

“It is okay. But I have to go now, there are more patients waiting for my ward round. I will drop over again at noon.” He takes a turn to walk to the door, then speaks again. “And Miss Hopps, you have to eat something for breakfast. Medical order.” He winks, then leave the room.

* * *

 

Judy sat by Nicks’ bed the whole forenoon and did not leave it for a minute. She was not really hungry and only eat an apple she had put in the backpack. Time was creeping; the nurse came in a few times, checking some data on the monitors, but she never really talked with Judy. Doctor Greenwood also dropped over around 13 o’clock, but he only had time for an examination of Nick and was not as chatty as in the morning. She still blamed herself for the incident. And she had no idea what she should do; choosing between her family and Nick? No, that was no option, she could not do that. And her parents would never demand such a thing from her, she was sure. Judy wiped those thoughts away and addressed herself to Nick again. “Did I ever tell you when I arrested some crops when I was a child for growing into the wrong direction?” she smiled softly and talked about some childhood memories.

* * *

 

“I told you, that she would spend the night at the hospital at Nicks’ side!” Evelin states to her disgruntled father and her worried mother after breakfast. “Of course her bed is unused.”

“She should not stay in the hospital for so long, or she will catch some disease herself there.” Bonnie Hopps says while clearing the table.

“Yeah, some rare fox diseases!” Joshua says, standing in the door frame of the kitchen.

Stu did not say anything and was just looking out of the window. He appears to be contemplative.

“Oh, and of course because of your constant ranting, Josh!” Evelin stares icily at her older brother, but turns around to their parents again. “Why are you giving Judy such a hard time? Do you really not notice how much she is hurt by it?” Evelin seemed to be sad and disappointed. “Judy always was so positive and in a good temper, come what may. Even when she quitted the ZPD half a year ago she wasn’t as depressed as she is at the moment.”

“How can you defend this fox? You don’t even know him!” Joshua said bitchy, their parents still keeping silent.

“And whose fault is that? They came for a visit this weekend so we could become acquainted with him. But you prejudged him the second he entered this house!” Evelin was not as loud as Judy was yesterday, but she was totally flying into a frenzy slowly.

“He is a fox!”

“He is her partner and boyfriend!”

“He made her completely mad, perhaps seduced her into rotting and…”

“Joshua!” their mother stopped him. “Keep your temper, there are kits in the house!”

“What is the matter with you, Josh? You know what a bullhead Judy can be, are you really thinking anybody could will her? Maybe she is not mad, but in love.” Evelin says.

“No difference.” Joshua states frustrated.

“Now you are fudging.” Evelin smirks, but immediately looking serious again. “Do you think, Judy does not know what she is doing, too, mom?”

Bonnie was looking embarrassed to her daughter, playing with a cleaning cloth in her paws. “No… but…”

“No ‘but’s, mom. Are you trusting her?”

Her mother, visible uncomfortable with her daughter interrogating her like this, finally says “Yes. Yes, I do.”

“So what is the problem, then? Dad?” Evelin now looks at her father, who still looks out of the window in silence. “Great.” She states frustrated. “I was so happy to see Judy again. We all get to see her only at rare intervals because of her job, and now maybe even more rarely. It is her life, and she is old enough to do whatever she likes!”

“That does not mean, we have to approve it.” Stu finally said without turning around.

Evelin sighs. “I don’t get it. Nick helped Judy with her first and all-dominant case, saved her life, he is an Officer at the ZPD, he is really handsome and seems to be a nice guy; not to mention Judy is in love with him and he seems to treat her really well. And he even saved Amie yesterday without hesitation and regardless his own well-being. What is it, for carrots sake, aside from his specie, that makes you so reserved against him?”

“You are too young, my dear. You cannot put his species apart so lightly.” Her mother said carefully.

“Why not? We are still all mammals. The only problems are in your head!”

“It’s morbid!” Joshua stated. “Foxes and Rabbits are natural enemies!”

“A thousand of years ago, Josh! Back then everything was totally different. Take a look at your history books. A lot of other animals were our enemies back then, but not today! We have developed! Well, most of us…” a sly grin was on Evelin’s face watching Joshua. “By the way, mom.” Evelin had one last ace up her sleeve. “Some of us want to bake a blueberry cake later.”

Her mother looked at her, but doesn’t say anything. Then Stu interferes: “For the fox?”

“For Nick.” Evelin corrected him. “He loves our blueberries almost as much as Judy as far as she told me. And I believe it is the least we can do to thank him for protecting Amie.”

Now Stu Hopps was grabbed by his pride for his farming products. Being it a fox or not, someone loving his blueberries was always welcomed. “Clean up the kitchen afterwards.” He says while turning around, then facing his wife. “And maybe we can make a hamper with different vegetables and fruits, too, Bon.”

Bonnie nodded, smiling lightly, and Evelin turned to Josh with a sly grin Nick would be proud of. She really was very similar to Judy. Joshua just snorted contemptuously, then left the kitchen.

* * *

 

“As the clock strikes midnight, both let the magic potion’s effects wear off. They revert to their original forms, he as a gazelle and she as a lion. After all the king, her father, gives his blessing to the marriage and apologizes for all and everything he did before. Both forgive him his earlier behavior, and the party resumes. And they lived happily ever after.” Judy finishes reading the book, she originally brought for her younger siblings. It was a classic fairy tale about a lion and a gazelle falling in love with each other, her parents not approving and trying to trick her into marrying another lion. But the gazelle bought a magic potion from a fairy godmother, transforming him into a grand lion.

It was the only book Judy took with her; and after telling each and every childhood story she could remember, she read it to him aloud. There is a quiet harrumph at the door and Judy turns her head by surprise. Evelin stands in the doorframe, smiling at her.

“That was a nice story.” She said to Judy, taking a few steps into the room and letting the door shut close.

“How long are you standing there?” Judy asked somewhat irritated. It was always difficult to sneak up on her, but in this silent room it should not be possible at all.

“Quite a while, sis. I did not want to interrupt you, and I like fairy tales.” Evelin winked and spreads her arms. “Come here, Juju.” Judy slide off the chair, walked to her sister and hugged her firmly. “How is he?” she asks with a short look to Nick.

“Unimproved. The wounds are healing, but he was not yet awake. Doctor Greenwood says that it may take a while with head wounds, but I am anxious nevertheless.” Judy sounded worried, her look was sad and tired.

Evelin put her paw under Judy’s chin and pulled her face in her direction. “And what about you? You really look terrible, Juju.”

“Exactly what a woman likes to hear from her sister.” Judy smiles lightly, but Evelin shakes her head.

“Come on, Judy. How much sleep did you get since yesterday? And did you eat something?”

“I slept a few hours, and I had some fruit earlier.” Judy says, deciding it would be best to be not too specific with the facts.

“Some fruit, eh?” Evelin eyes her up closely. “Well, I brought some blueberry cake I made with our siblings today. It is for Nick, but as long as he is still asleep you can have a piece. We always can bake another one for him.” The younger rabbit walked back to the door, where a bag was standing on the floor. She takes it and carries it to the small table at the opposite corner of the room. “Come here, sis.”

Somewhat grudging Judy scuffed her feet to her sister, looking to the content of the bag. There was a Blueberry cake as she was already told, some magazines, two bottles of carrot juice, paper plates, napkins, more picked up flowers, a crocheted blanket with a pattern of flowers, a small pillow, a photo album and a small plush bunny. Evelin takes the latter from the back and brings it to Nick, laying it at his side.

“This is Mona, Annie’s favorite doll. She will take care of _Nicky_ while you are sleeping.” Evelin winked at Judy. “And the flowers are from Annabelle this time. The cake is backed by me, Jana, Sam, Fiona and Carl. A lot more wanted to help, but we created enough chaos with five rabbits backing a single cake.” Evelin smiled to Judy, then added: “As you can see, your boyfriend has yet quite some fans. Oh, and I bought some magazines for you to read.”

Judy smiles and is visible affected. She started to tear up again, hugging her little sister. “Thank you, and everyone else.” Evelin just patted Judy on her back and smiled.

“Okay, but now you will eat a piece of cake. And after that you can take a shower; there are some open bathrooms including showers near the cafeteria.” Judy wanted to object, but Evelin raised her paw. “I will sit here and watch for Nick in the meantime. But we have to make sure that it is not you being smelly that keeps him unconscious.” Evelin winked amused about Judy’s reaction. “Come on, I am eager to hear your judgment about the cake.” And with this words she takes the blueberry cake out of the bag.

* * *

 

Judy crouches down on the tiled floor, letting the hot stream of water run over her exhausted body. Not only tire but also mentally exhausted. She and Nick had won the 3rd place in the biathlon about 60 hours ago; previous to 36 hours they were dancing and partying like there is no tomorrow; and in the last 24 hours she had a bad argument with her family, and Nick had been in an accident and is unconscious since then. How could her life change so quick and abrupt? She had undergone her highest highs and lowest lows in less than 60 hours.

The rabbit straightens herself up, tilting her head backwards and lets the water pour onto her face. She has to talk with her parents in the near future; studiously avoiding them would work for maybe another day or two, but in spite of everything she loves her parents and her family. And she loves Nick. It has to be possible to reconcile both without letting anybody down. At least she hopes so. Choosing between her parents and Nick? This was no option and would be as impossible as choosing between her mother or her father. Nobody can demand this from her. She thought about the fairy tale; in the end everyone always realizes their mistakes and there is a happy end. But her life was no fairy tale and there was no author she could convince to wrote such a happy end for her, she had to do it all by herself.

With a sigh, Judy turned off the water and after hesitating a few seconds she steps out of the shower. There was a body-sized air blower, big enough for animals triple her size. She switches it on and a warm and steady airflow blow her fur dry within minutes. Judy closes her eyes and leans against the wall. Evelin was such a great relief to her. Most likely she had talked with their parents already, trying to convince them how absurd this whole argument is. That will make things much easier for Judy. Suddenly she missed living in Bunnyburrow and seeing her siblings every day. She loves Zootopia and her job, she loves Nick and had quite some friends in the big city. But there was none of her family, only short visits every few weeks or talking via muzzle call. This sudden realization left a stale aftertaste and frustrated she switched off the air blower. She quickly slips into a fresh pair of underwear, pants and shirt, bundles up her old clothes and walks outside the door of the public bathroom.

In the lobby Judy’s gaze lingered on the people coming and going. Finally, she spots whom she was looking for, takes a deep breath and walks towards the security ram near the entrance.

“Excuse me…?” Judy started, getting some indifferent looks from the guard. “I want to apologize for my bad manners yesterday, Mister…” she searches for his name tag, “… Sheppard; my partner was in a critical state and I stand in my own light. This was some nonprofessional behave, especially … attacking you. I will give you my staff number at the ZPD so you can submit an official complaint.” Judy grabs into her pocket to get her ID.

“Is your partner O.K.?” Sheppard asks, his facial expression was now somewhat more friendly.

“Doctor Greenwood said he will recover completely, but he has not awakened yet.” The rabbit sighs. “But that is no excuse for my behavior. I am really sorry about that.”

“Maybe it is no excuse, but it makes it much more understandable. And I really appreciate that you apologize personally. Let’s not talk about it further, and best wishes for your partner, Officer Hopps.” The ram shakes hands with her and Judy smiled a little.

* * *

 

When Judy entered Nick’s room, he was still laying unchanged in his bed; Evelin was browsing one of the magazines she had brought for Judy. On her entering, Eve turned to her and smiled.

“You look much better now, Juju.”

“Thanks, the shower really was a benefit. Anything new about Nick?”

“No, I am sorry.” Evelin slides from the chair and made a few steps in Judy’s direction who put her old clothes into her backpack. “Judy, can we have a talk?” The older sister doesn’t look too enthusiastic, eventually noticing the undertone in Evelin’s voice. “I talked with mom and dad…”

“Eve, please. I know I have to deal with it sooner or later. But I do not think I am ready for it, yet.” Judy looked at a moment’s notice very exhausted and tired.

“I can relate with you, sis.” Evelin sighs and takes her sister in a firm hug. “But you should know, that mom is in fact still arguable, but she only wants you to be happy, with whomsoever that may be. And dad… he just needs more time, I think.” Then she added with a sly smile: “Just try to not make out with Nick in front of him. But otherwise you two should be fine.”

Judy smiles and laughs lightly, then hugs her sister again. “You are the best, Eve!”

“Don’t forget it, when you are selecting the maid of honor for your twos wedding.”

Now Judy laughs for the first time, winking to Evelin. “Promised.”

* * *

 

Evelin stays for a while to accompany Judy, the older one telling her sister a few funny stories she had experienced together with Nick in Zootopia. But after the evening ward round she has to go, as being only a regular visitor. Judy goes to the cafeteria while the nurse changes Nicks’ bandages, getting herself a cup of tea and a sandwich. Finally, Nick and Judy are alone again. She sits on her chair, holding his paw between hers. But shortly after, her head sinks onto the side of the bed, and the sleep overpowers her.

It is not until the first ward round in the morning that Judy wakes slowly up again from her deep sleep. There was some quiet mumbling near her, but she doesn’t want to wake up yet. She was having a beautiful dream with her in a splendid weeding dress, and the full Hopps family including all relatives were there, cheering and smiling to her. Her father was walking down the aisle with her, where her grandfather Michael was waiting to espouse her to her fiancé: _Nick_. When she was standing beside him, he reaches for her paw, holding it tight. The priest made his speech and when he finally asks the magic words, Judy whispers: “Yes, I will.”

“You want what, carrots?” Nicks’ voice was asking. ‘ _What?_ ’ Judy was irritated. The dream faded away, even faster as she tries to hold it just for a few more seconds. Finally, she awakes, but refuses to open her eyes yet. It was a nice feeling of Nick stroking the back of her hand. Then awareness strokes her like a lightning and she pulls her eyes open. The feeling of Nick stroking her hand was not only a dream, but he really was stroking it. She turns her head and grimaces because of the position she had fallen asleep yesterday. But she did not sense any pain the moment her eyes meet with Nicks’, smiling at her. “Good morning, carrots.” He speaks still somewhat weak, but he was finally awake.

“Nick!” Judy makes a jump on the bed, ignoring her aching muscles and hugging Nick firmly. Her eyes filled with tears of joy, she holds his face in her paws and touching his nose with hers.


	7. Light at the end of the tunnel?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “The doctor said I was unconscious for two days, but depending on your behavior one could easily think it were two months. Don’t worry, Judy. I am not going anywhere.” - “Don’t worry?” Judy lifted her head and turned it a bit so she could look at him. Her eyes were red and swollen. “You scared me to death and you are saying I should not worry?” She sobs but this time with a smile. - “Oh, carrots. I was awake the whole time; it was just a hustle.” He winked and Judy was sobbing and laughing again. - “Just cheating death and already huffing me, dumb fox!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio)
> 
> ### The whole series is also made available as an _[audio drama on YouTube](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio)_ , releasing a new chapter each week! 

Nick was not sure, if Judy was crying, laughing, sobbing, giggling or everything at once. She was just holding him with her arm around his neck, and hugging him firmly. The fox just patted her with his healthy arm on her back, giving her a soft kiss on her neck.

“Hey, carrots.” Nick said softly. “Maybe you could let go of me for a second?”

“Uh-uh.” Judy shook her head softly.

“The doctor is still standing right beside the bed…”

“Uh-uh.”

“Judy.” Nick said with a smile.

“No.” The rabbit even hugged him tighter, being afraid he could vanish just like her dream.

“I will have a look at you later, Mister Wilde.” Doctor Greenwood smiled and winked to his patient, then left the room.

“The doctor said I was unconscious for two days, but depending on your behavior one could easily think it were two months. Don’t worry, Judy. I am not going anywhere.”

“Don’t worry?” Judy lifted her head and turned it a bit so she could look at him. Her eyes were red and swollen. “You scared me to death and you are saying I should not worry?” She sobs but this time with a smile.

“Oh, carrots. I was awake the whole time; it was just a hustle.” He winked and Judy was sobbing and laughing again.

“Just cheating death and already huffing me, dumb fox!”

“Loyal bunny.” He stroked her back again, tickling the base of her ears. “The doctor said, you were not leaving this uncomfortable chair the whole time. And even nearly knockout a security guard to get in here in the first place. With anyone else I would say he is greatly exaggerating, but knowing you it might even be true.”

The rabbit giggled amused and kisses his cheek. “For you I would even have gone to hell and wrestle with the devil.” Then her look got more serious. “You really gave me the creeps; you know that? For a moment I thought, that I have lost you.”

Nick waved aside and smiled sly. “Nah, I am too big to get lost easily.”

Judy’s looks were getting even more sad. “Nick, I am serious. When I thought I might lose you, I awaken about something: I do not want you to leave me ever again.”

“Carrots, I am not going anywhere without you.”

“Would you swear it?”

Nick hold up his right paw and said smiling: “Boy scout honor!”

“I thought about a more romantic vow…” Judy snickers, her ears and cheeks becoming hot. The heartbeat monitor was starting to beep faster and Nicks’ facial expression was a mix of emotions. Judy let go off him and hopped from the bed to hide her embarrassment about the knee-jerk comment. “Whatever, are you hungry? My siblings baked a blueberry cake for you, and after nearly three days without food you must be starving.”

* * *

 

“Well, it seems that your reflexes are all within the range, Mister Wilde.” Doctor Greenwood finished his elaborately examination of Nick. “I have scheduled you for a MRI this afternoon. But as much as I can say now everything looks good.”

“When can I leave the hospital? And how long must I stay on sick leave?” Nick sounded quite enthusiastic about to work again. But maybe it was only getting out of hospital or even getting back to Zootopia.

“Mhh, actual you could be discharged in a few days. But I want you to come in every other day for a checkup and to change your bandages.” He made some notes in Nicks medical journal. “Going back to work is a different kettle of fish. As long as your fractures are not healed completely you are not allowed for regular service, but only desk duty. But I want you at least on sick leave until end of this week. Do you have a family doctor in Zootopia?”

On the thought of staying two more days in the hospital and being at least four more days on sick leave, Nicks’ ears dropped. “No family doctor, sorry.”

“Me neither, that is aside from you Doctor Greenwood.” Judy added with a smile.

“You two should get one, then. I’m too far away in case of need.” He smiled softly. “I can give you an introduction for Doctor Alisson. She doesn’t regularly take new patients, but I know her for quite a while and she is internist for multiple species.” He hesitates for a moment, then added with a wink: “And she is specialized for inter-species reproduction, too.”

Judy blushed, as did Nick, and the accelerated heartbeat monitor made Doctor Greenwood laugh lightly. "Just a suggestion, think about it and give me a notice if you wish me to give her a call. We will see again after the MRI.” He shook his hands with Nick and Judy, then left the two alone.

“I have taken a few free days until Wednesday, but I will talk to Bogo if I could have another four until Sunday.”

“And where should I stay for the rest of the week? I am not actually welcomed by your parents’, carrots.” Nick made a hangdog face and seemed to be deeply disappointed, even he did not say anything.

“Either we can stay both in the guest room of my parents, or none will. I am not staying there without you, Nick!” Judy’s look was determined. “But we have a few days left to decide about this. And I will talk to them later, perhaps tomorrow.”

“You really didn’t leave the hospital the last few days, did you?” Nick looked astonished.

“And leave you alone? No way!” She smiled and put her paw on his arm. “And by the way, you already have quite some fans in the Hopps family, beside me that is. Annie and Annabelle convinced all younger siblings that you are really cool, and Evelin told me most of the older siblings like you, too.”

“Well, there are also some dissenting voices I guess.” Nick thought back to the argument at the table a few days ago, then sighs.

“Just a few stubborn rabbits, there are a few in every family.” Evelin said, leaning in the doorframe. Both, Judy’s and Nick’s head turned around quickly.

“Hey, Eve!” Judy exclaimed and jumped from the bed, arms reached out to hug her younger sister. “This is the second time you managed to sneak up on me!” she laughed.

“I practiced a lot, but you are also quite distracted lately.” Then Evelin faced Nick and giggled. “Wow, awake with that cute smile he is even more handsome, sis!”

Nick stayed cool with a sly grin outwardly, but the heartbeat monitor betrayed him again with an accelerating beeping. “Okay, this thing has to be switched off!” he murmured and both bunnies laughed.

“Hello, I am Evelin, or just Eve for my friends.” The younger rabbit made a few steps in his direction so Nick could stay in bed and shakes his paw. “I have heard so much about you!”

“As you are still here I guess Judy only told my positives.” The fox winked, being sly again, and shakes her paw.

“Oh, I got all the exiting details, including how you managed to get her to kiss you in that bar.” Evelin had a serious look for a moment, and Nicks’ acting failed complete, looking like someone punched him in the stomach. Then Eve suddenly laughed full-throated and turned to Judy. “For a fox he is really gullible, how had he survived your moments of sarcasm during heat?” Nick still looked puzzled when Evelin patted his arm. “Don’t worry, I know you didn’t trick her into anything.” She winked at him and Nick snorted.

“Dumb bunny.”

“Hey, no reason to get personal!”, Evelin crossed her arms and looked annoyed.

“Wha…? No, I mean… That was just…” Nick was risking his neck with careless talk and wagged his arms, looking helpless to Judy who was leaning against the wall, watching amused at the spectacle.

“She is fooling you again, dumb fox.”

“Sly bunny.” Nick murmured and lean frustrated back into his pillow. “As if one of you is not enough, you are now overpowering an enfeebled fox!”

Evelin was still snickering and winked to Judy. “You really got yourself a sweet one, I envy your great fortune, sis!”

Judy grinned: “Yep, as a full-time cop you have to mess around with what you get.”

Nick pouted and chuntered. “I should call the nurse, you two are obstructive for my healing.”

Judy wanted to reply something, but Evelin was faster: “Your ego doesn’t count, my dear.” Judy clapped her paws in front of her mouth and snickered again, accompanied by some more murmuring by Nick.

“Why am I still messing about with you…” Nick rolled his eyes.

“Because you know, you love me.” Judy chirped sweetly, winking in his direction.

“Do I know that?” Nick made a thoughtful face, then sighed. “Yes. Yes, I do. And you are my one and only real weakness, you know that carrots?”

“Yes, absolutely.” She winked and then blow a kiss to him.

“Oh, come on. I don’t even get a real one after all?” Nick pouted again.

“I can help out for Judy…” Evelin offered, grinning from ear to ear.

Judy stood there with her hands on her hips and tripled with her feet. “Don’t you dare! This is my fox; you can trap one yourself!”

“Excuse me, if I may say something…?” Nick started sheepishly, but was interrupted by both rabbits at once.

“No.”

Nick helplessly throw his healthy arm in the air and dropped back into his pillow for the second time within minutes. “What have I done to deserve this?”

“Maybe nibbling from our favorite carrot?”

“Eve!” Judy blushed and beat her sister on the arm, who only giggled; even Nick snickered, finally losing his awkwardness slowly. “I should never have told you that! Don’t let that one slip when Mom or Dad are around, they would kill Nick and take me for a ride.”

“Isn’t that my job, carrots? Like, literally?” Nick added with a wink. Judy scowled at him and Evelin laughed.

“You two are really a great couple!” Evelin determined, then with a wink to Nick: “And I really mean it this time. I’m really happy for you two.” She smiled widely at both. Nick and Judy shared a look, then smiled, too. “But don’t forget your promise when time comes, Juju.” Eve winked at Judy, who blushed again with a careful side glance to Nick, who looked between the two bunnies inquiring.

He did not have time to ask about that promise, because a sheep in a lab coat entered the room with a wheelchair. "Hello, Mister Wilde. I’m picking you up for your MRI.”

* * *

 

“He isn’t half bad, Stu. Just think about if she would bring someone like Zackery Milligan home.” Bonnie Hopps was sitting at the kitchen table, nervously polishing the same apple since more than five minutes.

“At least he is a rabbit.” Stu answered stubborn.

“He is an idiot, Stu.” Bonnie answered, rolling with her eyes.

“But he is a rabbit.”

“He is a petty criminal!”

“But he is a rab…”

“Oh, shut your mug, Stu!” Bonnie appeared impatient. “I would even prefer seeing her a freaking lion instead of this rabbit.” Stu snorted indifferent. “Furthermore it seems this fox is making her happy. Shouldn’t this be the most important thing for us?” She sighs.

“But maybe he is only taking advantage of her! Didn’t you see, how Jude is under his spell? You cannot trust a fox, everybody knows this!” Stu sounded frustrated and walked the kitchen up and down. “Maybe…”

“Maybe”, Bonnie cut him off, “everybody is wrong and our daughter is the one we should listen to. Since when do you don’t trust her judgment? I still do!”

“Me, too, Bon.” Stu dropped himself onto a chair besides his wife and sighs again. “But why had it to be a fox? Couldn’t she found herself a nice rabbit? She is my little girl, and I wanted some grandchildren from her. No Hopps bunny was ever childless.”

“We have so much other little girls, you will have enough grandchildren.” Bonnie said, then offered after short hesitation: “Or maybe they even will have their own…”

“Good grief! Are you serious? A fox and a rabbit having biological kits?” Stu was getting nearly an attack thinking about it and jumped from his chair again. “Is this even possible?”

“I don’t know, Stu.” She was reaching with her paw for his. “But don’t you think Judy deserves our support either way?”

“Oh, Bon, what have we done?” Stu sit down again, holding Bonnies paw with his, looking really worried.

“We raised Judy to be open-minded, kind-hearted and optimistic.” Bonnie smiled softly and Stu put his head down onto her paw. “I think we did everything absolutely right, my dear.” She patted her husband on his head.

* * *

 

“I don’t know what I should do, Eve.” Judy sat with her sister in the waiting room. “This never happens, I always have a plan and know what to do.” She was a mess.

“Oh dear, this fox really got under your skin.” Evelin smiled happily to her sister.

“Yeah, and I don’t like it. I cannot think very well even when he is only talking.” Judy sounded frustrated.

“Judith Laverne Hopps, totally in love and be at the mercy of her own emotions.” Evelin laughed. “I never thought I’d see the day!”

“Ha, ha.” Judy pokes her tongue out at her sister, but grinned, too. “But back to the topic, I have to talk to Mom and Dad today or tomorrow. And this will be really unfunny.”

“I think you should talk with Mom first. She takes it more easy.” Evelin proposed. “Are you deliberate about whether you two should stay at the burrow after Nick is dismissed?”

“I would like to, it’s rarely enough that I see the family. Staying at the Hotel would be really a waste. Furthermore, I still wait for a reply from by boss, Chief Bogo. He was in the field when I called. “

“How long do you plan to stay?”

“As long as Nick has to. I will not leave him alone in Bunnyburrow.” Evelin grinned at her, fully aware of her protective instincts towards the fox; Judy rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Eve!”

“It’s just too cute, Juju.” Evelin snickered. “I am really happy for you two, always feared you would end up as an old maid.” She winked at her. “He is doing you good.”

“I know.” Judy smiled and had a glance in her eyes.

A nurse came into the waiting room, looking inquiring. “Officer Judy Hopps?”

“That’s me!” Judy waved at her.

“There is a phone call for you from the ZPD, line seven. Just enter _star - star - 7 - hash_ on the phone over there to accept it.” The nurse said and left the room again.

Judy walked over to the phone, entered the code and waited for the connection to be established. “Officer Hopps, hello?”

“Hopps.” It was Chief Bogos voice, “Your phone is offline.”

“Oh, sorry chief. I forgot to charge it and the battery must have died.”

“I got your application for four more days of vacation.” The cape buffalo didn’t sound too enthusiastic about the idea, and Judy sighs.

“Yes, sir.”

“You are all right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And your partner is awake and not at risk anymore?”

“I think so, sir. He is currently being examined but everything looks good so far.” Judy could not quite keep her disappointment out of her voice. Those questions could only lead to the decision to get her back on duty, and leaving Nick alone. She considered to tell a small lie about Nicks’ health status, just to stay a little longer. But she couldn’t cross this line, even now.

“Well, under these circumstances I see no reason for you to stay on vacation any longer, Hopps. I need my best officers on duty.” Judy’s ears fell down and she let her shoulders sink. “But maybe I can make some concessions to you.” The chief snarls as always, but Judy swore she could hear a little smile in his voice.

“Sir?”

“We have got a request for administrative assistance from the precinct in Bunnyburrow. A dispute between neighbors ended bloody with a zooicide. Under normal circumstances I would have send Fangmeyer and Pawlstake. But as you are on the ground already and know the locals, I am considering to schedule you for this request.”

“This would be great, sir! You won’t be sorry about it, I promise!” Judy was all eager again, wobbling with her nose and tail.

“Should I send you a replacement for Officer Wilde?” Chief Bogo already knew the answer, but had to ask nevertheless.

“No, Sir. I think I will cope with it on my own. Also Ni… I mean Officer Wilde will be eager to do the paper work.”

“That would be a first…” Bogo mumbled and Judy grinned. “Well then. I already announced your appearance to the local sheriff for tomorrow. He will brief you with all details. Good luck!”

“Thank you, Sir!”

“And, Hopps…”

“Yes, Sir?”

“Best wishes to Wilde from the whole squad.”

“Thank you, Sir!” The line clicked and Judy slowly hang up the phone.

“What is it, sis?” Evelin asked impatiently when Judy stand thoughtful and motionless for a few seconds.

“Well, it seems as if we will stay for a while…”

* * *

 

“Good news, Mister Wilde.” Doctor Greenwood helped Nick, who was struggling with his casted leg and arm, to climb down the metal barrow of the MRI. “I could not see any edema, crushes or bleedings inside your brain, so I’m not expecting any long-term effects. How bad is your headache, on a scale from zero to ten?”

“Painful, but sufferable.” Nick said with a relieved face. “I would say, maybe a strong six.”

“I will tell the nurse to give you some light painkillers for the next few days. What about nausea or vomiting? Any seizures or aphasia?” The doctor blazed with a small flashlight alternating into both eyes.

“A small nausea when I get up from laying down.” Nick followed the flashlight with his eyes from the left side to the right side of his field of vision. The rabbit switched the flashlight off, nodded pleased and noted something in Nicks medical journal.

“It seems that you really had an angel patronizing you; for the severity of the accident you really get off lightly.” He smiled. “But you should treat yourself with care in the next weeks; take things nice and easy. And if you notice any aftereffects, you should go to the next emergency ward.”

“I think I can do that.” Nick smiled and shakes hands with the doctor.

“Well then, we will closely monitor you the next two days. Do you have an accommodation for the days after your release?”

“Not yet, Judy wanted to talk with her parents if we can stay for a few days.” Nicks look was getting sad and his ears drooped. “But maybe I should vote for a hotel.”

The old rabbit eyeballed Nick, then putting his hands into the lab coats’ pockets. “I heard from Miss Hopps, that you weren’t well received by her family.” His voice was easy, almost fatherly. “Don’t take it to heart, Mister Wilde. It’s a countrified area and most older people in Bunnyburrow are quite old-fashioned. But I would not count the Hopps’ to the hard-liner. They were probably only caught on the wrong foot. I really think you are a nice guy with a good nature. Even when putting aside my own long lasting knowledge of animal nature, I saw how Miss Judy Hopps looks at you.” Nick smiled embarrassed and the Doctor continues smiling. “If you could win her heart, I bet you will win her parents, too. You just have to give them some time to better know you. At least you saved her little kit, and actions speak louder than words.” He patted the fox on his shoulder.

“Thank you, Doctor Greenwood. I will give my best to don’t disappoint neither you nor Judy.” Nick smiled eased.

“Speaking of, I think Miss Hopps is impatiently waiting outside.” Doctor Greenwood went ahead and called a nurse with a wheelchair to assist Nick.

* * *

 

“Nick!” Judy jumped from her seat and rushed to the fox who was moved in his wheelchair from another rabbit in a white lab coat. “Thank you, I will take him now.” She smiled to the nurse, then pushed Nick to the group of chairs around a table where Evelin was waiting with another rabbit. When Nick arrived at the table he saw three more small bunnies, sitting together on one chair and drawing on a writing pad. “This is my brother Patrick.” Judy pointed to the other adult rabbit that had a brown fur as against Judy’s and Evelin’s greyish. He seemed to be about the age of Judy and Evelin, but that was hard to tell.

“Nice to meet ye’!” Patrick waved with a paw to Nick, who replied with a smile.

“Hi Patrick.”

“This is Bobby…” Judy was now pointing to one of the three little kits, that had some funny brown patches within his light grey fur. Bobby was waving shyly and then hiding snickering behind his two sisters. “And those two did you already meet…”

“Annie and Annabelle, right?” Nick smiled without showing too much of his teeth and waved to the two giggling bunnies.”

“Nicky!!” Both shouted, then jumped on the table and rushed to the fox, landing in his lap and trying to hug him with their cute little paws.

Nick laughed and put his healthy arm around both of them, tickling their head. Evelin snickered: “Awww, how cute!” She holds on to this moment by making a few photos with her phone and winked to Judy. “I think, you got some competition, sis!”

“They were whining for two days to visit ye’, Mister Wilde. And when Eve messaged that you were finally awake and according to the circumstances feeling okay, they finally persuaded me to accompany them for a visit.” Patrick said with a friendly smile.

“I missed you too, my little bunnies!” Nick smirked to the beaming two kits in his lap. “And you can call me Nick, Patrick.” He offered with a smile towards the male rabbit. Bobby was now standing alone on the chair, torn between staying in a safe distance to the foreigner and cuddling him together with his slightly younger sisters. He gave himself a start and finally lumbered shyly towards Nick. The fox carefully put his open paw slowly on the table. Bobby still appeared somewhat skeptical, but then hugged Nicks’ big paw with his cute little arms. “Hello, my little friend.” Nicks voice was gentle and finally Bobby crawled quickly over the fox’s arm and joining his sisters with a proud smile.

“Wow, you are honored Nick! Little Bobby is one of our shyest siblings, he is not getting warm with strangers easily! That he even wanted to come along with his sisters is exceptional. But such a quick familiarity is really a first time!” Patrick was amazed and Evelin made a few more photos while Judy put her arms around Nicks upper body from behind, smiling happily from ear to ear.

“You really know how to capture a bunny’s heart, my dear.” She kissed him softly on the cheek; and of course Evelin made a photo hereof, too. “Hey!” Judy protested mildly, but Evelin and Patrick were just giggling at her, and even Nick was smiling with a sly grin.

“You know, if I hadn’t those casts, I would offer them a really good show.” He winked and Judy considered him with a played angry look, then took a chair beside Nick.

“By the way…” Patrick started, and because of his changed voice Judy knew what was coming next. “Mom and Dad really wants to talk to you, Judy.” Then he paused before he continues. “And with you, too, Nick.” The last part got both, Judy and Nick, by surprise; but Evelin smiled lightly.

“So, did Mom finally convinced the old grumbler, that Nick will not devour their children?” Evelin asked nonchalantly and the two little girls giggled amused. Only Bobby was looking somewhat worried, but finally started to smile when Nick didn’t dash forward to swipe him. Judy on the other side still looked somewhat skeptically and her brother just shrugged.

“I don’t know you, Nick, but I think you are a nice guy. And if Jude likes you…”

“You bet!” Judy said determined.

“…that’s sufficient for me, too; and Mom is thinking alike, I believe. And Pa will listen to her.” Patrick winked to Judy. “As always. We Hopps were always somewhat matriarchic.” This time he winks to Nick, who gulped with an expression on his face that made everyone laugh – beside him that is.

* * *

 

Nick was laying in his bedside, Judy besides him and snuggled into his healthy arm and his tail. When visiting hours were over, the other Hopps’ left and they could share some private time in his sickroom. Judy wouldn’t leave the hospital today, but promised that she would talk to her parents the next day. She also told Nick about the new case she had assumed, still not knowing much details herself yet.

“A zooicide here in Bunnyburrow?” Nick sounded astonished and worried. “You should not do that all alone, carrots. As long as I am on desk duty you need another partner!”

“Don’t get upset, Nick.” Judy stroked his arm and smiled. “You have to go easy. And it is a neighborhood dispute, not a madcap serial killer.”

“And why did they request for administrative assistance then?” Nick still sounded worried and hugged her more firmly. “It may be dangerous, Judy.”

“There is only a really small police department here in Bunnyburrow, and a zooicide is such an exceptional case, they simply don’t know what to do. They normally have to deal with a few shopliftings or vandalism on the fields. And our job is always dangerous to some degree, be it in Zootopia or here in Bunnyburrow. I will keep you up-to-date and promise you to be guarded, okay?”

“Do I have a choice? No. No, I don’t.” Nick sighed but also smiled softly. Judy gave him a sweet kiss, touching his cheek with her paw.

“Don’t worry, I don’t want you to undergo the same dubiety and anxiety I had for the last days. I promise, Nick.”

“Thank you, Judy. I love you.” Nick smiled dreamily and they both snuggled below the blanket.


	8. Murder in the Tri-Burrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You are totally overthinking again, Judy.” She said quietly to herself. They were dating for how long, not even two weeks, and Judy was already planning their near, middle and far future. Judy grabbed her phone that was laying on the chair beside the bed, connected to the charger. Half past five; she snuggled back into Nicks’ fur, just listening to his heart beat and breathing. Judy smiled and eventually fell in a light sleep again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio)
> 
> ### The whole series is also made available as an _[audio drama on YouTube](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio)_ , releasing a new chapter each week! 

It was quite early when Judy woke up the next morning. The last few days were stressful, but last night she had sleep through after her concerns regarding Nick finally went obsolete. The room was dark besides the dim light from the medical monitors. She turned around and gazed Nick. He had put his snout on top of her head during sleep, his healthy arm was still holding Judy and in his left arm he holds the little rag doll from Annie. Judy smiled moony and thought back to her siblings visit the day before. She never thought that Nick would get on with them so easily. But seeing Nick playing with her youngest siblings also invoked new feelings she never thought of before; it was the first time she thought about having her own family and her own children. _With Nick_. That subject never came up before to her and Judy would have liked to talk about it with her Mom. She sighs and smiled to Nick. He really looked cute while sleeping with this little rag doll in his arm. And how he treated the little kits yesterday, even Bobby, was so dearest and unexpected. She was quite sure Nick would be a great father. But the thought of it made her suddenly sad; was it even possible for her to have biological children with Nick? Or did he even want some?

“ _You are totally overthinking again, Judy._ ” She said quietly to herself. They were dating for how long, not even two weeks, and Judy was already planning their near, middle and far future. Judy grabbed her phone that was laying on the chair beside the bed, connected to the charger. Half past five; she snuggled back into Nicks’ fur, just listening to his heart beat and breathing. Judy smiled and eventually fell in a light sleep again.

* * *

 

It was just after seven o’clock in the morning when Judy left the hospital for the first time since Nick’s committal on Saturday. The sun was shining and it promised to be a warm and beautiful Tuesday. She had her badge attached to the belt of her trousers and planned on going to the precinct here in Bunnyburrow at first. Then she would decide if she would go directly to her parents’ house and have a late breakfast there, or if she go to the only coffeehouse in town to have some breakfast as a strengthening before talking to her parents. ‘ _What were you overthinking, carrots?_ ’ Nick had asked her when she was changing her clothes to something more official: A white blouse with beige pants and a light jacket in the same color, that made her look like an insurance salesman. Evelin borrowed her the outfit, because all she had packet for the weekend-trip was a pair of casual shirts and some jeans. ‘ _Something I want to talk to you maybe later._ ’ she had answered to Nick with a quick kiss on his check. He protested, but Judy already was out of his room. ‘ _Don’t get ahead of yourself, Judy._ ’ She said to herself on her way out.

After about ten minutes Judy arrived at the precinct. It was really small on the outside, a simple red-brick building. She was there for a few visits every time they had an open day back when she was a child; it did not change very much since then. In the lobby she was immediately greeted by Misses Croach, an elderly sheep and the receptionist for as long as Judy could remember.

“Hello, Judy! Oh… sorry, of course I mean Officer Hopps!” she gets up from her chair, walked around the desk and hugged Judy with a friendly smile.

“Hi, Misses Croach! And you can always call my Judy, no need to be formal.” Judy replied, being happy that she was still recognized by the mother of her old school-friend with whom she also had done the play about Zootopia. “How is Emily?”

“She is doing great; in two months she begins her new job as a technical assistant at the ZASA! Isn’t that great?” Misses Croach proudly showed Judy a framed picture from her desk. “This is her graduating from the Messapawsetts Institute of Technology!”

“Wow, that really is impressive! Deliver her my best wishes and congratulations!”

“Of course, my dear, of course! Well, what brings you around, Judy?” The sheep sat on her chair again, putting on her glasses.

“Chief Bogo from the ZPD send me as supportive Officer on grounds of your request for administrative assistance. I should meet the sheriff this morning for more details.”

“Ohh…” Miss Croach looked a bit uneasy. “It must be that zooicide yesterday. A real tragedy. We didn’t have to handle such extreme circumstances for nearly forty years!”

“Someone I know?” Judy asked worried.

“Most probably, his son was going to school with you and Emily. You know the Leeps?”

“You are not talking about Aaron and Sarah Leep, are you?” Judy was shocked.

“I’m so sorry, Judy.” Misses Croach nodded sadly. “Aaron Leep is the victim. But you better talk with Sheriff Darcy, I will take a look if he is busy.” With this words the sheep got off her chair again and walked to the back office, knocking on a door. Judy tried to remember as much as she could about the Leeps. They were a smaller family of rabbits, living near the outskirts of Bunnyburrow. Mister Leep was an ornery misanthrope and a skilled carpenter. His wife Sarah was the opposite, a fun-loving personality. They had quite a few kits, as most rabbit families, but Judy went to school with only two of them. Tim and John were the youngest of the family and about her age. But she never had too much contact with them, their father didn’t let them play too often with other children. After school she lost contact completely.

“Officer Hopps!” the sheriff walked to the front desk with Miss Croach; he is an old hart and the last decades had worked him over. Judy knew him from her visits on open days and shakes smiling his hand.

“Hello, Sheriff Darcy! Good to see you are still well.”

“Let’s go to the conference room, I have all documents already prepared for you.” The hart pointed along the hall to another door, and Judy followed him to the room. “Well…” he said, after sitting down at the table and thankfully accepting a mug of coffee from the receptionist. “Look at you! You really made it to the force! My belated congratulations, Judy.”

“Thank you, Sheriff.”

“And now you are back in town, helping out on us poor country people.” The hart winked at her and took a sip from his coffee.

“As far as I understood, you send an official request for administrative assistance to the ZPD, Sir?” Judy felt not very welcomed, despite the friendly face of the hart.

“Oh, just call me Mike. We are not very formal here.” He smiled. “And don’t get me wrong, your help is much welcomed! But I did not anticipate our own town hero to help us out.” He winked at her again. “You know, not only your parents are very proud of you; you are a local celebrity since the Nighthowler case.”

Judy blushed and twitched on her blouse nervously. “Thank you, but it was not me alone that finished the case, and my parents are greatly exaggerating my involvement.”

The sheriff laughed, but was getting serious right after. “Okay, now for the case. You already heard about the zooicide?”

“No, I didn’t hear the news until Chief Bogo called me yesterday. Miss Croach told me the victim is Aaron Leep?”

“Exactly. His son John found the body in the delivery entrance of their shop yesterday noon at quarter past one. He was looking for him when he noticed that his father had not opened the shop yet.”

“Cheese and crackers, John found him?” Judy put a paw on her mouth. “Sorry, Mike; I went to school with him. And this news just took me by surprise.”

“That’s okay. You will find his testimony in the case file.” The sheriff handed her a brown folder with a copy of the case file. “There are also photos and evidence. We have a suspect, too. Mister Leep had a long lasting neighborhood dispute. My associate searched the adjacent bakery and found a bloodied knife between some sacks of corn.”

“The bakery?” Judy only knows two bakeries in Bunnyburrow. One was near the station, and the other one somewhere outskirts; the latter it must be. “It belongs to the Tailors, isn’t it?”

“Ah, I see you know your old hometown! Yes, the bakery of Frank Tailor, but the son has adopted most of the business.”

“Your main suspect is his son, Thomas Tailor?”

“Sorry for the misunderstanding. No, the junior has an alibi; he was supplying their products during the period of the crime. I was talking about Frank, his father. You know them?”

“Not really, but I know his competitor Gideon Grey; he is cooperating with my parents and he told me a few things about the Tailors on my visit a few months ago.

“They were having an argument for more than a decade with the Leeps. Mainly because Mister Tailor could not go to bed early because Mister Leep worked in the workshop until sunset. The hammering and drilling and so forth. But in the morning Mister Tailor had to start the day always very early. And Mister Leep was bothered by the early customers of the bakery, because he was usually starting his day rather late. The usual stuff we have to deal with in our precinct, nothing fancy.”

Judy was browsing through the case file while listening to Mikes report. “And because of their history, you searched the bakery?”

“Yes, we even did not need a search warrant. Mister Tailor almost invited us to search his shop and storage rooms.” The sheriff nodded. “Of course we had to arrest him after we found the knife. He is in investigative custody if you want to talk to him.”

“I think I will work through all your reports at first. And after that I will visit the crime scene and talk with Miss Leep and her son John. I think I will listen to what Mister Tailor has to say in the afternoon, if that will be okay with you?” Judy was bundling up the case file again.

“Of course, Judy. Just give me a short message if you need any support. But you should know, Misses Sarah Leap died two years ago on cancer.”

“Oh… okay.”

“Dora will hand you a radio, so you can get in direct contact with us. You can also have a bike from our car pool.” _Dora_ – that was the first name of Miss Croach, she totally had forgotten it! “As aforesaid, I am really happy to have an experienced officer from the ZPD on the ground for this case. Especially since it’s you!” Sheriff Darcy smiled and shakes her hands, then went ahead, back to the front desk. “Dora, could you hand Judy a mobile radio. And she can have the keys for the bike.”

“Thank you, Mike. I will report to you after I visited the workshop.” Judy smiled and bid farewell.

* * *

 

Judy only ever ride a motor bike during her driving lessons in the police academy, but after starting slowly and carefully, she got the hang of it. She spontaneously decided having breakfast at her parents’ house. Not going there by foot but with a police motorbike and wearing the proper outfit gave her the necessary ego boost. While turning into the access road to the burrow, she switched on the flashing lights and the siren for a moment, then came to a halt right beside her slightly shocked father, who worked on his old truck. She got off the bike full of verve and strolled cool to Stu, who apparently had not yet recognized her; she wore a motorcycle suit made out of Kevlar and a helmet without visor.

“Your driver’s license and car documents, Sir!” She said in her most authoritative voice. Stu just stared at her blankly.

“But I didn’t even dr…” He suddenly made big eyes: “Wait a second, Jude?”

“Oh my god, what happened, Stu?” Bonnie was running out of the house; she only could see Judy from behind and sounded worried. Judy however was first grinning at her father, then turning around nonchalantly to her Mom, standing there with her hands on her hips. “Oh… Oh!” Bonnie froze and stared to her daughter who just put off her helmet.

“Judith!” her mother exclaimed, a hint of anger in her voice. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Me too!” Stu snorted from her side.

“I think you two quite deserved this…” Judy answered with a sly grin. Her mother lost her angry face at once and now looked guilty. Her father only twitched with his nose.

“Since when do you drive a motorbike? Also an idea by this f… ?” Stu asked indignant but stopped abruptly when he saw his wife’s angry looks. “I mean, your partner?”

Judy rolled her eyes and put the helmet on the bike. “He has no idea, and this is beside academy the first time.”

“This suite is very becoming to you, sis.” Evelin strolled from the house in their direction with a grin on her face. “Hot and sexy!” Stu got a coughing fit and Bonnie hold her breath with a sibilant sound.

Judy laughed, made a quick leap and hugged her sister. “You are damn right, Eve! And best regards from Nick.” She turned her head to her parents. “For you, too.” Stu murmured something inscrutable and Bonnie twitched her paws, nodding nervously.

“Thank you, hon.”

“Well, you two wanted to talk with me, right? I only got half an hour until I have to drive to a crime scene, so let’s begin.” She still was talking very authoritarian and at least her mother seemed to be somewhat daunted by her direct approach.

“Hey, keep it down, Juju. You should talk with them, not interrogate them like criminals.” Evelin winked at Judy and bounced with her hip against hers. “Do you want me to leave?” She offered with an inquiring gaze. Their parents wanted to answer something, but Judy was faster.

“Thank you, but I would prefer if you could stay.” Judy’s voice was now softer and more friendly. “And perhaps we can go in one of the kitchens, I didn’t have any breakfast yet.” She added in the direction of her parents, who just nodded. “Well, then let’s go.” Judy waved with one arm to follow her and walked to the front door.

* * *

 

Judy loved her parents and didn’t mean to roast them. But thinking back how harsh they were against Nick, she thought they could earn a wipe-down. Being the bad cop never was her thing, but a few minutes ago it was quite funny; at least for her, and probably Evelin, too. When she entered the nearly empty house – most of her younger siblings were in school, and the older ones working in the fields – she took off her Kevlar jacket, hanging it on the coatrack. She pours herself a pot of herbal tea while Evelin made a few pancakes for her. Her parents already sat down at the dining table, waiting for her. Judy stand beside a chair in the face of them, putting one paw on the backrest and taking a sip of her tea.

“Maybe you want to sit down…?” Her mother started after a few moments of deep silence.

Judy wanted to reply something bitchy, but then decided to play it safe and slowly take a seat. She holds her cup of tea with both paws, having another sip from it. Another moment of silence followed, only interrupted when Evelin put a plate with four pancakes in front of Judy and sat down between her and their parents. Stu was twitching with an old rag he used to polish his truck; Bonnie looked sad and nervous and looked down. Judy finished her third pancake when her mother finally took the word.

“We want to apologize to you and Nick, Judith.” Bonnies voice was thin and a little too high, but she continued. “We…” Stu interrupted her.

“Better said _I_ … really misbehaved. And I’m very sorry.”

“We are very sorry!” Bonnie added with a side glance to her husband. “There is no excuse, beside we love you and only want the best for you.”

“Whatever that may be…” Stu added reluctant. “You always had our respect and trust, and that won’t change in the future.”

Judy slowly looked from her Mom to her Dad and back to her Mom. There was a somewhat beseeching look on Bonnies face and Judy felt a lump in her throat. She took a large sip from her cup of tea, clothing her eyes. Her thoughts were rushing and her heartbeat was surely faster than it should be. Her parents had apologized, talked about respect and trust. But that wasn’t enough.

“What about Nick?” she asked after a while. And when her parents didn’t answer but looked inquiring: “Do you accept him being my boyfriend? I really don’t want to hide him in my backpack whenever I come for a visit.”

“No! I mean yes, you can bring him along and no, you never have to hide him… or your feelings.” Her mother quickly said, then hit her husband with her elbow.

“Yes, of course he is also welcomed, Jude.” Her father added with only a short hesitation.

Judy smiled lightly; Patrick was right, the Hopps were always somewhat matriarchic. But at least her father said it out loud, that Nick was welcomed. ‘ _Going for phase two…_ ’ she thought.

“Well, you will have a chance to prove yourself. After all actions speak louder than words, right?”

“What do you mean, hon?” her mother asked; her voice was nearly normal again. Stu was on the watch.

“Nick is going to be released tomorrow, and I am officially supporting the local police with a case of zooicide. So, Nick and I have to stay for a while in Bunnyburrow. We could go to a hotel, or…?” she offered without ending her sentence.

Stu didn’t show any impulse but Bonnie offered a bright smile: “Of course you two won’t stay at the hotel! We still have the guest room prepared, you can stay here with us. If you two are okay with that, that is.”

“I don’t know, Mom.” Judy smiled but was still somewhat worried. “Nick still needs some support during the day. And I will have to work during the day, most of the time not being able to stay with him.”

“That is okay, Jude.” Her father spoke out of a sudden. “Maybe we get to know each other better during your stay.”

Bonnie eagerly nodded. “Your father is right! Maybe we cannot undo his first impression of us, but we should try.”

“I rest my case.” Evelin said, hitting with her paw on the table like it was the hammer of a judge and smiled brightly.

“Well, okay. I will take you at your words.” Also Judy was smiling now and started to eat her last pancake. “Eve, my dear. May I have another one?” she mumbled with full mouth and winked to her.

* * *

 

Judy put the warning tape to the side and entered the crime scene. The workshop of Mister Leep was down-and-out; she was never here before, one of her uncles and even two of her brothers were quite experienced carpenters. The rabbit pulled out a few photos from the case file she carried under her arm. She looked around, trying to find the locations the individual pictures were taken. In front of the entrance some dirty footprints were found as well as some remains of a shattered piece of wood. Nothing of interest for the moment. She walked to the back and the first thing she saw was the chalk outline. Judy smiled; this outline was somewhat old fashioned. They were still made when the victim is alive and had to be moved by the medics. But on a zooicide they could make all photos they need without anyone moving the corpse; so, no chalk outline was needed. But she guessed, no one at the local precinct had visited any forensic training in the last twenty years. Inside and outside of the chalk outline were bloodstains. On the photos they were even liquid, now all that was left was some dark brownish stains. Judy walked around them, her eyes travelling over the surroundings. The backyard was not visible from the forefront and a wooden fence of maybe two meters’ height was preventing unwanted looks from the neighbors. Furthermore, there was more wooden debris all over the floor.

Judy made a few true to scale sketches and took a few samples of the debris and some fibers she found at the wooden fence. After some closing photos with her phone she walked to the forefront again. Here she took a sample of the wood, too, and made a few more photos from different angles. Then she went to the entrance door of the workshop, examining the door lock carefully. There were some scrapes, presumably from using the keys carelessly. In the case file was also a key to open the door and when it was open, she inspected the lock again from the other side. After a while she came to the conclusion that nobody had tried to open the door by violence, entered the workshop and closed the door. The windows were covered with wooden hatches and only little sunlight came into the room. Judy let her surroundings sink in, sweeping her gaze slowly from side to side. The workshop was a mess and a lot of half-finished furniture and other … things were standing or laying all over the floor or onto one of the two workbenches.

Her precursor did consider it unnecessary to make any photos inside the workshop, so Judy made up leeway. After that she took a measuring tape from her pocket and created a few more scaled sketches of the room and it fittings. The educational books on forensic examination of crime scenes indicated to not only examine the main scene, but the surrounding area, too. You cannot know what is important or not beforehand. And Judy was more than accurate with her examinations. In a drawer of one of the workbenches she found some papers with sketches and calculations. She made a photo, then put them into another evidence bag.

It took her nearly three hours to finish her investigations on the crime scene and it was past two o’clock. She promised to have lunch with Nick over half an hour ago, so she packed all evidence bags and documents into her backpack, and drove off back to the hospital.

With her police motorbike suite on she even did not had to show her visitor badge, she just went straight to Nicks’ room. After a short knocking she entered the room.

“Hey, carrots!” Nick smiled and waved with his right arm to her. On his lap were sitting Annie, Annabelle, Bobby, Lucas and Bella – the latter also being young siblings of her. They all were drawing with crayons on Nicks’ casts. Evelin and Ralph – another adult brother of them – were sitting on two chairs beside the bed, chatting with the fox until Judy arrived.

“Hey Ju!” Ralph waved at her and Evelin just winked. Judy really was surprised with this sight and looked baffled.

“As I said, you have some competition.” Evelin slyly grinned.

“It seems so…” Judy said with a smile.

“Eve really did not understate when she said, you look quite hot in this outfit.” Nick snickered and blow a kiss in her direction.

“Thanks! What about lunch, did you all have some yet?”

“Nope” Ralph answered, “We all have waited for you!”

“I will get a wheelchair” Evelin sprung off her chair and rushed past Judy out of the room.

Judy walked beside Nick, bend over and gave him a kiss. “How are you?”

“I’m optimally aided by your siblings here. They decided my white cast isn’t en vogue.”

“It’s boring!” Annie and Lucas said nearly at the same time, the other small siblings giggled.

“Well, okay. They said it is boring.” Nick winked and smiled content. When Evelin came back with a wheelchair, Judy helped him to climb into it. Evelin and Ralph each grabbed a few of their siblings onto their arms and went ahead to the cafeteria. Judy started to roll Nick afterwards when he asked: “Were you in a garage or on the shooting gallery today?” He tried to sound unconcerned, but Judy heard his heartbeat going a bit faster, sounding worried.

“The crime scene is a carpentry workshop. Wherefrom did you know that?”

“The longer the nose, the better the scent is.” Nick winked at her. “I can smell different kinds of wood, machine oil and gunpowder on you.”

“The wood and machine oil sounds right, but with the gunpowder you were out of luck.”

Nick paused, then turned his head around. Judy stopped the wheelchair and replied his look. The fox was closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose directly above her paw and arm. “No, there is the distinct smell of gunpowder, carrots. How long did you linger in this workshop?”

“Hm, quite a while; perhaps two hours?”

“Then the smell might just adhere to you because it was in the air.”

“But why should there be gunpowder in a carpentry? The victim was not shoot, but bleed to death by stabbing wounds.” Judy looked thoughtfully and slowly pushed the wheelchair in the direction of the cafeteria.

“Would you mind if I take a look at your notes and photos?” Nick offered.

“Not today, Nick! You should let it grow easy, and working on a case while still in the hospital is the opposite of nice and easy!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Nick saluted with a grin.

“Oh, and by the way leaving the hospital; I had a talk with my parents…” Judy started slowly, crawling him behind his ears soothing.

* * *

 

During their lunch in the cafeteria of the hospital Judy was rather quiet. She was thinking on her case and all the things and impressions she had collected. Everything had to be sorted into its own category and after that she could value it. Then there was Nicks’ discovery of gunpowder. She didn’t smell anything of it back in the workshop, but there were quite a lot of different scents and her sense of smell wasn’t that distinct like Nicks’.

It wasn’t until she noted, that everybody on the table was looking in her direction. Her ears turned bashful a little down and she looked to Nick with her ‘ _Sorry, I was overthinking again, what happened?_ ’ face. Nick smiled wildly, it was one of his favorite looks; Judy being Judy and nevertheless being sorry for it.

“Ralph suggested a movie night tomorrow and we were talking about what movies we could watch. Evelin suggested a romantic comedy, Ralph somewhat with more action, and I voted for an action comedy. You are going to tip the scales, carrots.” Nick commented and winked in her direction.

“Oh.” Judy replied and thought a moment about the choices. It was obvious – at least to her – that Nick choose the compromise between an action movie and a funny romantic novel not randomly. He did not want to take a risk by taking sides with one of them, so an action comedy was a safe vote for him. But that also made it difficult for her, because she had to choose between three categories and whatever she chooses that would it be. Some romantic movie together with Nick would be great, but with all her siblings around? She bet, Evelin suggested this only to experience her interactions with Nick during the movie. An action movie was not exactly her métier, she always had enough action in her life. An action comedy like Nick suggested would boil down to something like Bad Paws or Zootopia Hills Cop. But then she had an idea.

“I go for the action comedy…” Nick made a fist pump. “…but I want Evelin to choose the movie.” Nicks face froze and Evelin grinned, now making a fist pump on her part. Ralph winked at Judy.

“Still the mediator of the masses. You should go into politics, Ju.”

“Politics are boring and full of machinations. You cannot make the world a better place by only making a speech. You have to just do things right away.”

“Hear ye!” Ralph snickered.

“I have to go now, guys. Interrogation of the witnesses and of the suspect.”  Judy smiled into the round. “We talk this evening, Nick.” She tried to give him a quick kiss on his cheek, but Nick turned around in the right moment and they shared a not-so-quick kiss on their snout. “Sly Fox.” She snickered.

“Dumb bunny. Be careful, Judy.” Nick seemed to be still considerate about her. “I love you.”

“Me too.” She gave him a quick kiss on his check again, then waved goodbye to her siblings and walked out of the cafeteria.”

After a while sitting around the table and chatting, Evelin suggested to go outside for a walk.

“Are you sure?” Nick questioned. “I mean, I cannot drive the wheelchair by myself with one arm broken, and I don’t want any of you have to push me around.”

“That will be me, Nick!” Ralph jumped off his chair and smiled friendly. I don’t mind, and we don’t want to run a half marathon like you and Judy did.” He winked at him, then all of the smaller siblings hopped onto Nicks’ lap.

“Yeeeeaaah, driving around with Nicky!”, Nick guessed that was Annie shouting full of joy.

“But only, if you all sit down and hold on to my arm, so no one is going to fall down.” Nick instructed the little bunnies. “If that is okay for you?” he smiled in Evelin’s direction who nodded also smiling. She walked before and made a few photos of the group.

“You would be a great father; you know that?” Evelin winked at him.

Nick was too distracted to notice the undertone in Evelin’s voice. “I had a wonderful dad, but we had a hard time together. I want my own children to have a really great time with me; something they look back on with joy when they are grown up.” Nick had a really affectionate smile on his face while tinkering with the smaller rabbit’s little ears. Evelin squatted and made a quick photo before the moment would fade away. Nick did not even notice but played with her young siblings. Evelin view the last picture on her phone with a big smile and immediately send it to Judy’s phone, adding a message: _‘I don’t know where you found this treasure, but you should do anything necessary to hold him tight. And when he is already so affectionate with your sisters, he will be an awesome dad for your own kits. :-* <3_’

* * *

 

Judy quickly arrived at the victim’s house with her motorbike. She put the helmet off onto the handlebar and took a look at her phone: 2 new messages from Evelin; a photo and a short message. Judy gazed at the photo with a smile. It shows Nick playing with her five small siblings, looking at them with a moonily and lost in thought gaze. Obvious he did not notice Evelin making the photo, that made it all so naturally. She read the message from her sister and her heartbeat accelerated instantaneously. Maybe she could talk with Eve about having her own family and kits; later. Judy closed her phone and put it back in her pocket. She reallocates her police badge on a chain around her neck and walked towards the front door of the house.

Judy knocked and had to wait for a moment. It took a while until she heard some feet walking towards the door. The door unclenched for a crack and a rabbit about her height was visible. “Yes, please?”

“Hello, my name is Office Hopps from ZPD. I am investigating the zooicide of Mister Leep at his workshop.” Judy spoke slowly and even somewhat sensitive. She did not want to frighten any members of the family even more. The other rabbit did not answer, but opened the door more wildly. “I have just a few short questions to you. Maybe I can get in for a few minutes?” Judy now spoke with a bit more authority in her voice; that did the trick. The rabbit opened the door for her and turned toward their living room.

“Of course, come in Officer Hopps. My name is John; Aaron was my father.” He leads Judy into the small room, sit down himself on a sofa and pointed to an armchair for Judy to sit down, too. “Excuse me, please if I am indiscreet, but are you related with the Hopps family here in Bunnyburrow? You have quite a familiar ring…” John looked pensively in her direction and Judy nodded.

“My name is Judy Hopps, we were in the same school class for a few years.” She smiled a little bit. It was always helpful if you could make a connection to witnesses or suspects. They are speaking more freely then.

“Judy! Wow, you really made it to the ZPD. Of course I heard about it, but to see you again in person is really something else.”

“I think so.” Judy smiled lightly. “Unfortunately our meeting is not under the best circumstances.” She looked sympathetically to John. “I’m very sorry about what happened to your father, John. Maybe you could tell me, what you still know? For one, when did you last see him alive or talked to him?”

John leaned back and sighs. “We had a small argument on the evening before. He cancelled all open orders and I had to talk to a lot of angry customers in person or on the phone. We had an argument about why he cancelled them. His temperament was always somewhat erratic, and in the last month since Moms dead it was getting worse.”

“Did he name you a reason for cancelling the open orders?”

“No, he just said he would not finish them. We argued for a while, but I went home alone after he slung a wooden chair in my direction. He missed me, but hit the wooden fence to our neighbor and the chair chattered in pieces. When Mister Tailor shouted from his bedroom window to shut it off, I leave dad alone and walked back home.”

“Did your father argue along with Frank Tailor?”

“I heard him shouting some curses and other swearwords, but I think Mister Tailor shut his window close”

“Okay…” Judy made a few notes on her own. “You did not wait for your father to come home this evening and went to bed around half past eleven, is that correct?” John nodded and Judy continued. “And you did not take a look in his bedroom when he did not come for breakfast?”

“He is a… sorry, was a late riser. We were not allowed to wake him before noon at the earliest. But when I took a look in his room his bed was unused from the night. I guessed he had slept in the workshop, and…”

“Did he often slept in the workshop instead of coming home?” Judy interrupted him.

“Not in the past. But since Sarah, my Mom, died he spent more and more time in his workshop. So staying a night was not that unusual.”

“Okay, so you assumed that he had slept in the workshop. What did you do next?”

“I packed something for lunch together to bring it to him. Most of the days when he slept there he did not come home for lunch neither.”

“What time was it approximately?”

“I left the house around one o’clock I think. The bells of the church-clock just finished when I put on my jacket.” Judy made a few more notes and waited. “I arrived at the workshop perhaps 10 minutes later, maybe 15. The front door was still closed, the window shutters closed and I could see no light within the shop. So I called his name a few times and walked around the building…” John stopped and sniffed quietly.

“I know this is hard, John.” Judy leaned forward and putting a paw on his knee. “Just finish when you are ready. Every detail may be important.”

The other rabbit twitched his nose and nodded slightly. “I… I found Aar… I mean Dad… laying on his back. There was blood everywhere on his clothing and on the floor. I ran to him and I… I…” he discontinued and sobbed, his head put into his paws.

Judy waited for a while to let John settle down a bit. Then she asked: “Did you noticed anything unusual? Something that did not belong there or was missing? An unfamiliar sound? A different smell?” John interrupted her quickly.

“Fireworks!”

“Excuse me?”

“It smelled like fireworks were ignited.” Judy squinted contemplative. One of the principal constituents of fireworks is black gunpowder. Nick also mentioned the smell of it, his sense of smell must really be extraordinary when he could smell it on her after a full day. But why gunpowder on a knife attack? This didn’t make any sense. “Is this smell of fireworks important?” Johns question interrupted Judy’s thoughts.

“Maybe. Can you tell me, if your father had worked with gunpowder lately?”

“Not that I know. But I can take a look at the workshop if we have some in stock.”

“Thank you, but that will not be necessary. I already inspected the whole workshop and did not found anything like that.”

“Maybe I am wrong with this firework smell. Tailor killed him with a knife, not with a gun. Perhaps he started a firework out of joy after he killed dad.” John sounded angry and frustrated. “What will happen with him?”

“With Mister Frank Tailor? He is in investigative custody; I will have a talk with him later.”

“I always liked his son, Thomas.” John had a sad look in his eyes. “It did not matter for me that they are wolfs. They were always nice to me, and now and then I got a free doughnut or a piece of cake. Dad didn’t like them. He is very old fashioned, you know. … Sorry, I mean he was. I did not really sink in; always believe he will come out of the shop every moment and yell at us or the neighbors for nothing. He really hated all predators. Mom had an affair with a ferret a few years ago. When she got cancer, Dad always ranted, that this predator gave her this disease. It was nonsense, but as he never could stand them it was a welcomed excuse. ” John turned to Judy and looked resolute. “My father was not a nice man and he had quite a few bad sides, but he has not earned to be murdered! Can you promise me to bring Frank Tailor to justice for this?”

Judy replied his resolute gaze and said: “I promise you to bring the culprit to justice for the murder on your father. May it be Frank Tailor or anybody else, I still have to see, John.”

The male rabbit nodded, then asked: “Can I help you with anything else, Officer Hopps?”

“Thank you, I have no further questions at the moment.”

He accompanied Judy to the front door and they said goodbye. Judy put her helmet on and swing up on the motorbike. “ _Next stop, Frank Tailor._ ” She said more to herself and drove off, back to the police precinct.

* * *

 

“Hello Judy!” Dora Croach greeted her when she entered the small police station. Judy waved her a short greeting and approached her desk.

“I want to interrogate Mister Frank Tailor now. Could you guide me to the cell block?”

“Of course, my dear. Just down the corridor and the last door on the right side. Mister Tailor is currently the only inmate we have.” She opened a drawer and took something out of it. “Here is the keycard. Do you need a Taser?”

“I don’t think so. Thanks Dora.” Judy took the keycard and walked down the corridor towards the cell block. She swiped the keycard in and entered another corridor. On both sides were two cells, each with a toilet, a basin, and a cot. In the first cell on the right sits an elderly wolf on the cot, his head put down into his hands. A metal tablet with a bowl of now cold stew and a loaf of bread are standing right beside him, as well as a plastic bottle of water.

“Hello, Mister Frank Tailor?” Judy stood in front of the cell doors and put out her notebook and a pencil.

“No, I am just a visitor who just checked in here.” Frank Tailor snarled angrily.

“Mister Tailor, my name is Officer Judy Hoops from the Zootopia Police Department.”

“Oh great, they send the VIP dolly-bird to put me behind bars.” Frank Tailor laughed spiteful.

“Mister Tailor, please. I was sent here to investigate in the zooicide of Aaron Leep. You are currently under a cloud because we found the presumably weapon involved in the crime in your storage room. What can you tell me about this?” Judy’s voice was calm and steady, she tried to establish a relationship to the suspect.

“Maybe you plant the knife there!”

“Sir, please. If you want to submit an official complaint, I can give you a printed form for that. My only duty is to investigate in this case and uncover the truth.” Judy waited for a response, but Frank didn’t say anything to her, just leaning against the wall, looking at her.

“Currently you are nothing more than a witness to me, not yet a suspect. But when you prefer to stay quiet, I will not hear your side of the story. So, maybe you really killed your neighbor out of a sudden, maybe you did nothing. But without your witness report the truth will never get public. It is your decision…” she shrugged with her shoulders and turned around to go.

“I did not do any harm to this rabbit…” the wolf mumbled and Judy stopped. “We had an argument the night before, but I did not leave my bedroom.”

Judy turned around again and walked back to the cell door. “I talked with Mister Leeps son, John. He was present when you opened the window and began shouting to the victim.”

“Yes, of course! It was already past ten in the evening, I had less than five hours to sleep, and Mister Leep was throwing one of his temper tantrums, shattering furniture in his drive and against our fence. I shouted some angry words down to him and saw his son was walking away; I hoped that their argument was over and I got a few hours of sleep.”

“You closed your windows and your blinds, corresponding to the testimony of John Leep.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you hear anything else this evening? Or does anything else happened?”

Frank Tailor was looking contemplative. He tried to remember some more details of the relevant evening. “There was … I don’t know, some rumbling outside. Like wood falling on wood or something similar. But that was nothing uncommon. I found diverse wooden blocks, small stones and suchlike in my backyard and my storage rooms in the last few weeks. Not always, I think a few kids were throwing them. Some test of courage or something like that. It was nothing important, the old Aaron would have thrown bigger stones into my windows or even stink bombs; but something to do some harm, not such unimportant things.”

“Well, one of those _unimportant things_ is a knife with blood from Mister Frank Tailor. It was found in your storage, just like you described other small things you found there lately.”

“You think, that someone had placed it there?”

“I think, that is something I will investigate further. But let’s suppose someone placed the murder weapon there. Who wants to outsmart you? Do you have any enemies?”

“You mean besides Frank? I don’t think so. Even he was not a real enemy. We always had arguments, but nothing really important. He was just a bellyacher, and after he lost his wife Sarah it became even worse. He was really spoiling for a fight, tried to provoke me or my son Thomas whenever he could. I pity him, really.” Then Mister Tailor stand up and walked up to the cell door. “I swear faithfully, that I did no harm to Aaron Leep!”

Judy eyed the wolf slowly, he ears twitched a bit; then she made a few notes. “Thank you, Mister Tailor. I promise you, that if you are really innocent, that you will get free.” She nodded in his direction.

“Thank you, Hopps… I mean Officer. You listened to my side of this, that is more then I got until now. I trust in you.” And with this words he sat down again on his pallet and looked down to the floor. Judy left the cell block, walked back to the front desk and gave Dora the keycard back.

“Thank you, Dora. Can I speak to Sheriff Darcy for a moment? I promised him a report this afternoon.” Judy smiled friendly.

“Oh, I fear he called it a day already. He is no longer in the office then five o’clock. I go at six when our night watchman Hardy arrived.”

“Oh…” Judy looked irritated, the attitude of work seemed to be laxer on the countryside. “What about my daily report?”

“Your daily…? My dear, why would you have a daily report for him? Just make a report for the case file when everything is done. We don’t want to suffocate in a flood of papers.” Dora laughed heartedly. “You should call it a day, too, my dear! Go home and message your parents my best wishes!”

“Sure thing…” Judy said slowly, then walked out of the office. She looked on her phone: It was half past five and a wonderful sunny afternoon in Bunnyburrow. She took a decision with a wide smile, putting on the helmet and drove off with the motorbike.

* * *

 

“Hey, Nick!” Judy walked into his room where Nick sat in his bed, reading some magazines. The fox put them immediately aside and smiled to his rabbit.

“Hey, carrots! You are back early; I did not anticipate you for another two hours at least to be honest.” He patted with his right hand on a spot beside him on the bed.

Judy smiled and walked to him, giving him a quick kiss and sitting down on the side of the bed. “The local sheriff apparently has an 8 to 5 job; he even doesn’t want me to hand in daily reports.”

“Wow! Are there any open positions to apply for?” Nick grinned and Judy rolled her eyes.

“You really wouldn’t miss the big city out here?”

“Most probably, but what about you? You could be both, a cop and near your family.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Nick. I really love my family and those short visits from time to time are really great! But that is the point: They are short. After a certain age you love your family still, but that doesn’t mean you want to share your whole free time with them.”

“I know, carrots. I am a estray myself, you know? But you bunnies? Until I met you I thought you only live in a pack or burrow, meeting one of you alone is rather rare.”

“Yeah, those of us that left the burrow did only to establish their own families.”

Both were quiet for a while, everyone letting the mind wander for himself. Judy eventually stood up and walked to the corner of the room, where their backpack lay. She started to undress her motorbike suite; but Nick was the first to speak again.

“Do you want it, too?” he asked quietly, but as far as Judy could tell his heartbeat was calm, too.

“Do I want what?” she asked indifferent while pulling off her pants.

“Do you want to start a family on your own?” Nick asked without getting too nervous.

“You mean to marry, living in my own house, having a few little kits, …?” She also pulled off her blouse and stand there in her underwear, watching Nick. The fox laid his head to one side and let his eyes wander over Judy’s body that was in peak condition and absolutely adorably.

“Yes, all of that.” Nick nodded slowly, but without taking his eyes off of her.

“I am not sure…” Judy said slowly, walking over to his bed. Nick’s ears drooped a bit. Judy perceived it and smiled, while putting her paw on his cheek. “You need two animals to start a family, and I can only speak for myself, you know? If you would have asked me last month, I would have answered you straight, that I have absolutely no intentions of starting my own family. But… something changed since then.” Judy was caressing Nicks fur with her paw, stroking his cheek, behind his ears and his neck.

“Yes?” Nick closed his eyes for a moment and enjoyed her petting.

“Oh, absolutely. I’m totally in love with someone. And the first time in my live I gave this family-idea some serious thoughts. More than ever after I saw this special someone with my little siblings and how great they got along with each other. That was the exact moment when I fantasized about me and this special someone having some own kits and what a wonderful dad he would be… but…” Judy sat on the side of the bed, tickling Nicks chest fur and rubbing her own cheeks along his, leaving her scent on him.

“But…??” Nick took a deep breath when he smelled her scenting him, it was nearly taking over his mind and his heartbeat accelerated. When he opened his eyes again, he had a longing look towards Judy.

“But… I am relatively shy and unskilled in such things, like asking your special someone what his thoughts are. As I said, you need two animals to start a family. And if you say the wrong thing at the wrong time, maybe your special someone is scared and will run away.” She stoked with her paw over his head and ears, but stopped eventually and looked him in the eyes.

Nick opened his eyes and gazed immediately into Judy’s wonderful, charming eyes with endless deepness. He could totally lose himself in those eyes, Nick thought to himself. He sensed, what an overcoming it must have been for Judy to say those things to him now. She really was an innocent bunny when it came to emotions like love. But Nick didn’t mind, he was so totally in love with her, that it was physically hurting him when she left him alone. His former self would have made a sly slogan now; but after Judy opened her heart for him, he just could not do such a thing. He wanted to ease her, give her all the protection and safety she needs. And yes, he also was ready to start whatever goal this rabbit has get into her head to do.

“Judy…” Nicks voice was soft and full of affection. “I love you so much, and I also would love to have children of our own.”

“Really?” Judy sounded relieved but also incredibly happy.

“Living in our own house, marrying you, even having our own burrow if this is what you want. I would do everything for you, just to see you happy!” Nick said with a smile and kissed her softly. But Judy put her paws immediately around his head and replied to his kiss as passionate as she could.

“Wait a moment…” Judy suddenly froze, and stared disbelieving down to the fox. “Did you just propose to me?”

Nick laughed. “That’s a matter of opinion, carrots. How big is the chance, I will get the mercy of your father for this?” he winked at her.

“Hm, I don’t know. How big is the chance that you will transform into a handsome, carrot-loving rabbit?” Judy laughed, too.

“Okay, then it was no proposal. But a promise that I will ask you in the near future again.” Nick suggested with a smile. “I first have a mission to win him over, to prove myself worthy.”

“Scout honor?” Judy asked with a smile.

“Scout honor!” Nick put up his right paw.

“By the way, when you come to my parents’ house tomorrow. I thought about the little present you made before we come here.”

“The picture of you winning, fist pumping and jumping. Yepp, it’s still in the bag with the medal.” Nick assured her. “And I still want to give it to them.” He winked.

“That’s okay. But I framed a second picture today. And I think it will be a great present, too…” Judy jumped from the bed, still in her underwear, and picked up a small paper bag with a frame in it. She carried it within the bag back to Nick, then pulled it out and showed it to him. It was one of the pictures Ralph had taken today: Nick sat in his wheelchair, three little bunnies on his lap drawing on his arm cast, Bobby was trying to hug his tail with his little arms and on Nicks shoulder sat Annie, playing with his ears and tying a little bow around it. Judy was standing behind him, leaning over and putting her arms around his upper body, rubbing her cheek against his, smiling happily; aside was Evelin squatting, with entangled arms on his armrest and her head leaning on top. Judy loved this picture, it was full of positive emotions and affection, she already had made it her background image of her phone. Now it was printed in a big format and put in a wooden frame. Nick gazed the picture for a long moment, and when he spoke Judy noticed he was really affected by it:

“It’s perfect.”

He took the frame from Judy’s paws, putting it on the chair besides the bed. Then he grabbed her with his healthy arm and lift her onto the bed, right beside him.

“I cannot find suitable words to express even roughly how much you mean to me, Judy Hopps.” Nicks eyes were filled with tears, but he was smiling. “I love you so much and nothing will ever change this.”

Judy got all emotional by herself and as an answer gave him a passionate kiss.


	9. Breakfast at Hopps’

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judy left the police station ten minutes later and shook her head. “Take your time…” she murmured quietly, rolling her eyes. The work attitude of the local police was jangling her nerves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio)
> 
> ### The whole series is also made available as an _[audio drama on YouTube](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio)_ , releasing a new chapter each week! 

It was the common morning chaos at family Hopps house: All adult house members help preparing the breakfast for all children / siblings still living with them, take care that all school-aged kits are properly dressed and catch the busses, doing the dishes, collecting the laundry from all rooms and do the housework, e.g. cleaning and the laundry, after a fixed schedule. The day starts at six in the morning and it takes normally about three hours until Bonnie and Stu can breathe deeply. But not for long, because they have to bring some late breakfast to those at the market stall that left early with their wares. The complete household worked like a well calibrated machine. But like with every precise machinery it only takes one grain of sand to bring everything to a complete halt. The sand grain for the Hopps’ this morning was a fire in one of the three kitchens. It could be kept under control quickly, but they now had only two kitchens left for all meals to cook, and Stu would have to do some repairs and renovations first. And he was not in a good mood even prior to that kitchen disaster; Nicks’ discharge from the hospital would be in the afternoon. He promised Bonnie, Evelin and Judy to behave comme il faut, but he did not yet quite internalize that he would have a fox in his house for the next few days. It was hard to ignore all bias he had against these mammals. But for the sake of Judy he would try his best. So instead of Stu, the oven decided to explode. No one was harmed, but now there was real chaos instead of regular.

“Ralph, can you please help Evelin with your siblings? Annie has started a small revolt because she wants to wait for Nick instead of going to school.” Bonnie exclaimed to her son over the sound of dinnerware falling to the floor and breaking into a thousand pieces. “Oh come on, this must be a bloody joke!” She shooed away some younger kits and squatted to pick up the broken pieces.

“Is everything okay?” Miriam asked rushing into the dining room where the noise came from. She was a greyish rabbit, around 19 years old and a little bit smaller than Judy and Evelin. Her brown ears twitched when she heard her mother picking up the broken rest of the dishes. “Wait, Mom, I get a dustpan!” Miriam rushed away again.

Stu gazed through the door with half a dozen small rabbits in his arm. “Honey, I have to drive Jessica’s litter to the school with my truck, we missed the school bus!” And in the same second he was gone again. Bonnie sighs and picked up some of the larger shards when Miriam came back with the dustpan and a hand-brush.

“It’s okay Mom, I will get this done.” She said quickly with a smile, squatted and started to brush the broken pieces together.

“Thank you, my dear.” Bonnie stood back up, then noted some blood on her paw. “Oh dear, I think I have cut myself…” She walked to the sink and holding her paw under running cold water. ‘ _And it is only half past eight in the morning._ ’ Bonnie Hopps thought.

* * *

 

“Good morning, Mister Wilde. How is your headache today?” Doctor Greenwood was making his first ward round.

“It is much better then yesterday, thank you.” Nick appeared somewhat sleepy but smiled nevertheless.

“What about vomiting? Any feeling of dizziness?”

“No, nothing.”

“Well…” the doctor hesitates for a moment, looking at a point beside Nicks’ bed. Then he turned his face back to his patient. “I want to do some final examinations today. Also we will change your bandages again and take the stitches out. Your wounds are healing better than expected, congratulations. But you should still keep it slow for a while, and _no physical strain_.” He emphasized the last words somewhat funny, or did Nick just imagined that? Judy was sitting on the chair, holding his paw and now rose to speak.

“Do you think you can discharge him today like planned?”

Doctor Greenwood looked thoughtful at Nick’s medical journal. “It seems so; his data looks very promising. But my final go depends on the results of the final tests.” He smiled soothing and winked. “Don’t worry, you get your fox back faster than you think.” Judy’s ears burned from embarrassment; then his look fixated again something beside the bed for a short moment. With some hesitation he added a question. “Only one last thing. Did you consider if I should give Doctor Alisson in Zootopia a call?”

Judy embraced Nicks’ paw firmly and did not answer immediately. He instead nodded: “I think that would be very nice, thank you Doctor Greenwood.” Nick offered a friendly smile and he could _smell_ how embarrassed Judy was at this moment; he stroked her back of the paw with his thumb and Judy relaxed a bit.

“That’s that.” Doctor Greenwood said with a smile. “The nurse will pick you up in half an hour for your tests, and we will see us for our closing meeting at 3 o’clock.” He turned his head to Judy with an inquiring look.

“I will be there, too, Doctor Greenwood.” Judy smiled and nodded to him. The old rabbit bid farewell and closed the door behind, and Judy finally breathed deeply. “That was a close call. A few seconds earlier and we would have been caught red-handed.” She laughed nervously. Nick, who has looked to the side of the bed where Doctor Greenwood had stand a minute ago, was snickering.

“I think we _have_ been caught red-handed, carrots.”

“What do you m…” Nick picked up Judy’s bra she had tossed away last night in a hurry and that was hanging on one of the frames of the bed the whole time. “…sweet cheese and crackers!” Judy clapped aghast her paws over her mouth, but Nick just laughed.

* * *

 

It was a quarter to nine when Judy left the hospital in her motorcycle suite again. Nick was collected for his final tests when she kissed him goodbye – ‘ _Caught by the nurse, too!_ ’ she thought – and now she was on her way to the crime scene again. The last time she had not investigated the neighbor site, where the bloody knife was found. When she arrived a younger wolf, but very similar in his appearance to Frank Tailor, was waiting in front of the bakery.

“Hello, my name is Officer Hopps. Are you Mister Thomas Tailor?” Judy spoke friendly but also dictatorial to show the wolf that she has no fear because of him.

“Yes Ma’am. I got a message that you want to meet me here at nine. May I ask when I can reopen the bakery? We have a lot of customers who are waiting just now.” Thomas said calm, but Judy recognized his indignant fast heartbeat.

“Well, this is still a crime scene and I have to do some further investigations. But I think I can clear your shop during the course of the day.” Judy answered and Thomas chuntered something, but finally nodded.

“Okay, thank you officer.”

“May I ask you some questions, Mister Tailor?”

“I wasn’t at home; I do not know nothing.” He sounded frustrated.

“You were delivering goods to your customers when your delivery van broke down. You spend the night in a Motel, about 40 kilometers away?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“When did you come back?”

“I arrived right at the moment when the sheriff arrested my Dad in front of a dozen customers.” Thomas snarled.

“Did you like Mister Aaron Leep?” Judy asked indifferent.

“I did not want him dead, Ma’am!”

“This is not what I asked, Mister Tailor. I just wanted to know if you liked him.”

“He was a contentious drunkard, who made life miserable for me and my dad. Even for his own family as far as I know. He spoiled for a fight on sight! He…” Thomas breathed deeply, then said slowly: “No, Officer. I did not like him.” Then he added with a glaring gaze: “But I did not shoot him!”

Judy dashed at his words: “Why do you think he was shoot?”

Thomas seemed to be irritated. “I… just supposed it, I guessed. I don’t know. He wasn’t shoot then?”

“Your father told me, you had trouble with some kids in the last weeks?” Judy continued without answering his question, and when Thomas looked inquiring to her she added: “He reported, there were sticks and small stones thrown in your backyard on-again-off-again.” Thomas nodded slowly.

“Yeah, nothing notably. They did not break anything, so we never pressed charges against some unknown. We thought it may be kits doing some test of courage or something similar.”

Judy noted something in her notebook, then addressed Thomas again. “Can you show me where exactly you found those things?”

“Sure, Ma’am. Please follow me…” Thomas abled towards the front door of the bakery, getting some keys from his pocket. “It is back in our storage.”

Judy followed Thomas through the bakery and into their storage. There were two windows on the right side of the room. Alongside the left wall were big shelfs with supplies and kitchen equipment. At the front wall was a cold storage room and on the right side were big sacks stacked, filled with sugar and different kinds of flour. The rabbit let her eyes wander and examined the corner where the knife was found corresponding to her papers. Then she addressed the young wolf again.

“Where did you found those stones and sticks?”

“A few laid there on the flour sacks, a few in the corner were you currently are and a few times we found them over there in the middle of the room.”

“When was the first time you noted those things?”

“Perhaps five weeks ago, maybe six.”

“Mh-Mh.” Judy made a few notes, then let her eyes wander again. “I will have to take a few photos and make a true to scale sketch. This may take a while, Mister Tailor.”

“I can give you a blueprint of this and the other rooms, if you need one?” Thomas offered, then added because of Judy’s inquiring look: “We planned to make some reconstructions, therefore we have the blueprints at our fingertips.”

“Well, that would be of great benefit, Mister Tailor. Thank you!”

Judy started to make a few photos of the room, the windows, the flour sacks and all other interior while Thomas Tailor walked to the office to get the promised blueprints. After he handed the rabbit the plan, Judy measured again a few important points to make sure the blueprints were still up-to-date. After a while she nodded satisfied and walked back to the main shop, where the wolf was waiting for her.

“Can you lead me to the bedroom of your father, please?”

The wolf raised his eyebrows but nodded. He leads Judy to another door with stairs behind that went directly to the living quarters. They went down a corridor and Thomas opened a wooden door. “This is my fathers’ bedroom.” Judy nodded and entered the room. She only seemed interested in the only window, opened it and looked outside. She made again some photos, closed the window again and went back to Thomas who was waiting in the doorframe.

“I think I now have everything that I need. Do you want to supplement anything else to your testimony Mister Tailor?” she asked and looked friendly to the wolf.

“No, Ma’am.”

“Okay, you can remove the barrier tape for your shop then.” She filled out a form and put her signature at the bottom. “Here is your receipt that the shutoff of your property is officially raised. I apologize for the trouble caused.”

Thomas snorted, took the receipt and leads Judy back to the shop where she bid farewell and left the bakery. She had a lot to think about now. The rabbit sat on the motorbike and drove off to the police station.

* * *

 

“Ralph, could you please answer the door?” Stu shouted from under the cupboard. He had dismounted the defect oven and was now checking the electrical connections. Actually he would have been at the market stall by now, but repairing the kitchen had a higher priority in a household of over 200 rabbits.

“It’s Gideon, Pa.” Ralph entered the kitchen with the fox.

“Hi, M-Mister Hopps!”

“Hand me the phasing tester, please!” Stu loudly said without looking up. Ralph let his eyes wander but Gideon found it first. “Thanks Gideon.”

“I will leave you two alone, Jennifer needs my help with the laundry.” Ralph said and disappeared through the door.

“Trouble with the o…oven, eh?” Gideon guessed while looking at the sooty old oven.

“Yep. Caught fire this morning, a short circuit I just fixed.” Stu said while re-appearing from under the cupboard. “Sorry, I forgot your delivery!” the rabbit suddenly realized.

“N-No problem. Really! It is just unusual for you to be tardy, so I wanted to make sure everything is alright.” Gideon smiled to Stu Hopps.

“Today everything is going higgledy-piggledy, not to mention we have still prepare everything for Judy’s fox… I mean friend… fox-friend… boyfriend that is.” Stu seemed to be edgy but Gideon didn’t mention it.

“She has a fox boyfriend?” he sounded amazed and made big eyes.

“Well… yeah…” Stu still wasn’t comfortable with this topic, particularly discussing it with Gideon.

“You don’t seem to b-be very happy w-with it, Mister Hopps, are you?”

“To be honest, I have some reservations. After all I am only a worried father, ye ‘now.”

Gideon smiled. “L-Let me guess, foxes are trustless a-and are s-self-serving?” he winked at the old rabbit. Stu didn’t answer and Gideon continued. “Don’t w-worry, Mister Hopps. As a fox I h-hear such things a-all of the t-time. And you just w-want to protect Judy, d-don’t you?”

Stu was twitching with a rag in his hands. This conversation was really awkward to him and he smiled awry to Gideon, shrugging. “She is my little princess…”

“W-well, I don’t want to i-interfere, Mister Hopps.” Gideon slowly continued. “B-but you should know a thing o-or two about fox relationships…”

* * *

 

It was half past two when Judy finished her report to Sheriff Darcy. He had listen to all the things she had done in the last 24 hours regarding the case.

“Your really were on the go, Judy.” He smiled at her. “And what are your conclusions? Is Tailor our contravener?”

“I’m not feeling confident about that.” Judy said after thinking for a moment. “I just gave you my first report. I’m still waiting for the postmortem examination report from the coroner and a few laboratory tests. I send the samples to our forensic lab in Zootopia and should get the results by tomorrow.”

“Your young folk and your gadgets” the hart laughed friendly. “In my young days we did not have all this. But we got our contraveners nevertheless.”

“I just want to do my job thoroughly, Mike.” Judy replied his smile with a wink.

“That’s okay, Judy. You don’t have to hurry, take your time. Mister Tailor isn’t going to run away and there seem to be no other suspects at the moment.”

Judy were disagreeing with Sheriff Darcy, but she was clever enough to not speaking it out loud. Instead she nodded and gathered all documents together and put them into her case file. She left the police station ten minutes later and shook her head. “ _Take your time…_ ” she murmured quietly, rolling her eyes. The work attitude of the local police was jangling her nerves. She took a look at her phone: Ten minutes to three, she would have to hurry to be on time.

* * *

 

“What’s the matter Stu? Did you finish the repair of the oven?” Bonnie rushed into the damaged kitchen and saw her husband standing at the window, looking outside. The she noticed the still disassembled oven and stopped short. “Hon?” She put her bandaged paw on his shoulder and the male rabbit cringed.

“Oh. Sorry, dear. I was absorbed in my thoughts. What did you say… oh my green carrot! What happened to your paw?” Stu turned around and grasped his wife’s paw carefully with his.

Bonnie waved aside. “I just cut myself on some broken dishes. Nothing serious, Stu.” She smiled exhausted. “This forenoon really seemed to be jinxed.” And when she noted her husbands’ look she quickly added. “No, it has nothing to do with Nick being discharged today!”

Stu smiled but seemed to be a little sad nevertheless. “That’s not what I was thinking about, hon.”

“But?”

“I had a talk with Gideon…”

“Ah! Oh, no, we forgot todays delivery of fruits, didn’t we?”

“No… I mean yes, we did!” Stu waved the forgotten fruits aside like an annoying bug. “But we did not talk about those. Well, at least not at the beginning.” Bonnie looked bemused, Stu seemed to be more rattled as usual, but she waited patiently. “We talked about Judy… and Nick.”

“Oh…?” Bonnie feared that Stu could have said something by accident that disgruntled Gideon. He was at least a good customer. But this was also the first time, her husband named the fox by his name.

“I always thought about foxes that they are… you know… on the go. It was always one of my biggest fears, that Judy is only a liaison for this fox and he would leave her with a broken heart. I would hate that! She is my little princess…”

“Oh, Stu…” Bonnie put her hand back on his shoulder. “You cannot protect her from everything.”

“Yes… I mean no, I cannot, I know. But Gideon… he explained me, that foxes aren’t polygamous at all! They search a partner and mate for life.”

“But, that’s a good thing, Stu!” Bonnie smiled widely to him.

“Yes, it is. On the one hand. But when I am mistaken about Nicks intentions, don’t you see the implications of this?”

“What could be bad, when you are wrong this time? Our daughter will not get her heart broken by a Casanova, like you worried the whole time is a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Bonnie!” Stu took his wife with both paws at her shoulders and looked with a wild mix of emotions into her eyes. “If he really loves our Judy like she always said, he will eventually marry her for sure!”

In Bonnies eyes were happiness and amazement alternating. “Oh… oh!”

* * *

 

They sat in a threesome in Doctor Greenwood office and looked at some X-ray photographs on a light board.

“As you can see, the fracture of the right femur is smooth and not very large. It will still take a few weeks to heal, but I don’t expect any complications.” The old rabbit was pointing to the first picture, showing the radiogram of Nick’s leg. “The ancon is intact, which is good news. We weren’t sure about this because of the tumescence. The forearm isn’t split, but we had to apply two screws as you can see on this picture.” He again pointed to one radiogram, this time with two clearly visible screws. Judy grimaced but Nick put smiling his paw on hers to ease her. “I think this will heal equally well, but it may take two months, perhaps ten weeks until we can get rid of this cast, too.”

Nick smiled with relief and Judy kissed him on his paw, smiling too. Doctor Greenwood smiled lightly, then continued. Your head wound is looking good after we took the stitches out. There may remain a small scar, but it should not be visible under normal circumstances through your fur. Also we didn’t realize any neurological deficits.” He added with a sly smile: “That is, disregarding your sarcasm. But I think that has nothing to do with your head wound.” Judy laughed at Nicks’ dumbfounded look and Doctor Greenwood winked.

“Your abdominal wound is also in a very good state. I think we can take the stitches out in a few days. Until than I want to see you daily in our clinic for a change of bandage. There will be a scar staying behind, but not too many animals will get to see it I guess.” He winked again.

“By no means!” Judy snickered and Nick sighed.

“When my good looks are my top capital. Ouch!” Nick rubbed his side where Judy had poked him with her elbow, and grinned.

“On the whole, you were really lucky Mister Wilde!” The old rabbit cleared his throat and continued with a smile. “But you should keep it down for a while. And as long as you have those casts you are only allowed for desk duty. But at the earliest starting next week, when all stitches are out and no inflammation happened.” He took a look in Nicks medical journal. “As I can read here, you are living alone…?”

“Well… that’s true… technically speaking.” Nick grabbed the back of his head with his right paw and smiled awry.

“On a practically side, you could need some assistance from time to time. As I previously said, you should keep it down.” He looked at Judy with a soft smile.

“No worries, Doctor Greenwood. Each of us has technically his own apartment, but we are either both at his or mine together. I will support Nick as much as I can.” She smiled with pleasant anticipation.

“Hmm…” Nick looked contemplative. “Maybe we can have some of those lab co… OUCH!” he rubbed his side again, snickering, while Judy scowled at him and tumbled with her feet on the floor. “All right, carrots! No costume then.” He bends over to her and gave her a kiss on her head between her ears.

“One last thing…” Doctor Greenwood started again and reminded them thus of his presence. Nick smiled while Judy leaned against the chair embarrassed. “I called Doctor Kathrin Alisson for you and send her your medical journal, Mister Wilde.” He handed the fox a business card of Doctor Alisson, then addressed Judy. “If you agree I can submit yours, too, Miss Hopps. As I said, you need a family doctor close-by and she is specialized on inter-species-relationships.”

“Okay, if you think so.” Judy spoke quietly and the doctor nodded.

“Great, that’s that! I will make your documents ready and will submit them in the next few days.” Then the old rabbit turned to Nick again. “I will prepare your discharge papers and an attestation for the ZPD. You said, you are taking care of him at home?” The last sentence was addressed to Judy, who eagerly nodded. “I will make some papers ready therefor, too. You can take a seat in our waiting area in the lobby, a nurse will hand you all necessary papers in about half an hour.” He stands up, and so did Judy and Nick. Doctor Greenwood shakes hand with both of them and smiled. “We will see each other on your daily check-up. Get well soon, Mister Wilde! Miss Hopps.” he nodded and they bid farewell.

* * *

 

“Do you have to go back to work today again, Judy?” Nick using her real name, the slight tremor in his voice and his palpitating heartbeat; they were all indications, that the idea of staying at the Hopps’ house without Judy on his first day out of the hospital was nothing he would be thrilled of. Judy smiled softly and firmly squeezed his paw.

“Don’t worry, Nick. I took the rest of the day off as I still have to wait for some reports. But don’t be afraid of my parents.” She winked smiling.

“I am _not_ afraid! Just… a little… worried. What about your older brother?”

“Joshua? He and his family were driving homeward two days ago. And as far as I can tell my other siblings are more than welcoming you. Evelin and Ralph promised to keep an eye on you when I am out and about. And Annie has made quite a list of animated cartoons you have to watch with her.” She snickered and Nick smiled softly.

“She is really adorable, you know.” Nick said with a moony smile. “Actually most of your brothers and sisters are really nice.”

“Yes, they are. Most of the time.” Judy winked.

“Well, and how do we get there? I don’t think I can take a piggyback ride on your motorbike with my casts.” Nick pointed to his casted leg.

“I messaged Evelin that she can pick you up at four o’clock with the truck, and I will follow you on the bike.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Nick winked and put his arm around Judy, waiting for the nurse to bring his discharge papers.

* * *

 

“Okay, Mom. I’m driving to the hospital now to pick up Nick and Judy. Anything I should take to the booth?” Evelin had the keys for the truck in her paw and gazed through the doorframe into the damaged kitchen. Stu had repaired the oven and was now working with the others on the fields. Bonnie was cleaning up everything so the kitchen could be reused for making dinner.

“No, my dear, thank you. Sorry that everything is a bit bustling today, I know you wanted to go out with the girls today.” Bonnie said with a sorry look on her face.

“That doesn’t matter, Mom. You know, you can always count on my help if you need me. We can go to the city tomorrow, too.” Evelin smiled and gave her mother a small kiss on the cheek. “I will be back in half an hour, max.” she waved goodbye and walked to the truck, where Annie was already sitting on the driving seat.

“And where do you think you are going, little lady?” Evelin grinned sly and put her paws on her sides.

“I want to pick up Nicky with you!” the little bunny squealed excitedly and clapped with her cute paws.

“Does Mom know where you are?” Evelin looked skeptical and her young sister shook her head. Eve sighed and shouted: “Mom, Annie is coming with me!”

“Okay, see you two later!” Her mom answered promptly and waved through the kitchen window. Annie waved back and Evelin took her with both paws and seated her in the middle.

“Buckle up, Annie …” Evelin waited patiently while her younger sibling put the seatbelt on, then started the engine. “Okay, let’s get a fox for our burrow.” She winked to her and drove off while Annie was cheering.

The Hopps house was a little aside of the town center and it took them unhurried about ten minutes to arrive at the hospital. “Do you want to wait here for us to come b…” Evelin stopped asking because Annie was already unfastening and reached out with her little arms for her bigger sister to pick her up. “That’s that.” She laughed and took Annie on her arm from where she quickly crawled on her shoulder like a parrot of a pirate.

They strolled unhurried to the main entrance, but Annie was twitching at Evelin’s left ear. “Hey, stop that, grasshopper!” Evelin protested mildly, but Annie exclaimed.

“They are over there, look! Nicky!” the little rabbit was shouting with her high pitched voice and Evelin winced a bit. To her left side was a big parkway to take a walk or to relax. On a park bench near the border of the parking lot sat Nick; Judy sitting across his legs, one arm put around his neck. When they heard Annie’s shouting – as supposedly the whole park had – they both looked in their direction and waved. Evelin walked smiling to them.

“Hey, there are you already. And…?” Evelin looked to Nick. “How are you? Everything okay?”

But Nick couldn’t answer straight because Annie jumped from Evelin’s shoulder into Judy’s lap and Nick made a hissing sound. “You must be my white rabbit that leads me into the burrow, right?” he winked to Annie who snickered and gave him a sweet little kiss on Nicks’ nose.  “Aww, thank you sweetie!” Nick gave Annie also a quick kiss between her ears, then looked up to Evelin. “Wow, my three favorite woman at once, today must be my lucky day!”

Evelin rolled laughing with her eyes and Judy pinched him in his ear. “Ouch!”

“Okay, let’s go.” Evelin waved them to follow her. “Do you need some help, Nick?”

“Nope, I got a pair of those.” Nick picked up two crutches from behind the bench and Judy slipped down on her feed with Annie in her arms. Nick got on his feed by himself, propping with the crutches, and smiled. “Right behind you, Eve.”

Although his protests Judy helped Nick getting into the truck and Annie was fasten his seatbelt for him, beaming. “I caught my first fox, too, Judy!” Everyone laughed, then Judy replied with a wink:

“Trapping them isn’t the problem, but getting rid of them again.” Now everybody but Nick was laughing again. Evelin got on the driving seat and Annie hopped between her and Nick, buckling herself up. “I’m right behind you, we meet at home.” Judy waved them goodbye and Evelin started the motor.

When they drove on the road alongside the fields, Nick asked amazed: “Judy told me that all those fields belong to your family?”

“Most of them, yes. But we don’t farm all by ourselves, we rent two third of them out to other families. But we still have more than enough work for all of us.” Evelin commented proudly.

“You are still living at home?”

“Yepp, I have an education in parenting and work in one of the daycare facilities for children in the town. Helping Mom and Dad with my siblings was a great preparation.” Evelin laughed lightly.

“Ah, that’s good to know! When we have qu…” Nick paused for a moment. “Uh… I mean, when I need a short break of your younger siblings…” he cleared his throat and Evelin just grinned, but didn’t say anything. “I hope you don’t have to take a day off just to pick me up?” Nick was reaching behind his head with his healthy paw and tried to change the subject quickly.

“That’s okay, I have a lot of vacation days. And it’s easier to take care for your family instead of the foreigner’s children. Even if you are somewhat bigger than my other fosterlings.” She winked in his direction.

Nick was dumbstruck for a moment; this was the first time a member of Judy’s family – beside her – had named him a part of the family. Was it just a casual phrase or did Evelin said that on purpose.

“Why are you looking so funny, Nicky?” Annie was asking the fox, twitching on his shirt.

“Probably because I called him part of the family, my dear.” Evelin laughed lightly, but Annie looked serious.

“But he is Judy’s friend, isn’t he?” the little rabbit asked curiously.

“Yes, he is.” Evelin nodded with a soft smile.

“Then he belongs to our family!” Annie decided beaming and hugged Nicks’ arm. The fox was still unable to speak and instead patted the young rabbit on her head, smiling stirred. Then his looks went to Evelin and they said ‘ _Thank you_ ’ without speaking a word. But before Nick would start to get even more emotional, Judy passed the truck with switched on flashing lights, waving and driving ahead of them for the rest of the way.

Judy stand beside the motorbike and put her helmet on the handlebar when Evelin arrived at the house. Their mother and a few of their siblings were coming out of the house and Nick had a lump in his throat. “ _It’s like I’m going voluntary in a trap…_ ” he thought and gnashed nervously with his teeth. Annie hopped out of the window and ran beaming to her mother who was currently hugging Judy. Evelin unfasten her seatbelt and turned to Nick, noticing his gaze.

“Nick?” she asked slightly worried. “Is everything okay? Do you have pangs?” He didn’t react until she put her paw carefully on his shoulder. He composed himself rather quickly, but for a moment Evelin could see the angst in his eyes. In the meantime, Judy was looking to the truck because neither of them got out of it. She said something to her Mom, then hopped to Nick’s side of the car that he just opened.

“Is everything okay, Nick?” Judy asked somewhat anxious, but the fox just smiled at her and nodded.

“Of course, carrots. My leg has gone to sleep during the ride, that’s all. Caution!” The latter Nick said just before he jumped out of the truck, landing on his left foot. Judy looked at with her ‘ _I don’t believe anything you just said_ ’-look – especially as she could hear his way to fast heartbeat – but get his crutches from the cargo area of the truck. “Thank you, Fluff” he said, but Judy stabilized him on his left side nevertheless. “I can go on my own, Judy.” Nick sighed, but his rabbit just shook her head.

“You should not overreach yourself Doctor Greenwood said! And as long as you are under our supervision…” Judy explained, but was interrupted by the fox.

“’ _Our_ ’ supervision?”

“Yes, _our_ supervision. Evelin will have a look after you when I’m away, or Ralph when she is busy. But some of us will always be around you.”

“Just in case you got some bloodthirstiness…” Evelin said, grimaced her face and walked like a Zombie in those movies. Judy and Annie laughed, and Nick snickered at least. Bonnie, who was within earshot by now, looked shocked to Evelin and put a paw before her mouth.

“Eve!” she hissed in her direction, but now Nick was laughing, too.

“Don’t worry, Misses Hopps. I know she is only joking.” Nick said and Evelin grinned first to him, then to her mother.

“Settle down, Mom. The only thing you have to secure are our blueberries.” Evelin said with a wink.

“Well…” Bonnie Hopps looked somewhat embarrassed and twitched her paws. “Hello Mister Wilde.” She made a few steps in his direction, and reached out to shake his hands. Nick looked with an inquiring smile to Judy who just shrugged, then Nick turned to Bonnie again and hugged her friendly.

“It’s just Nick, Misses Hopps. And thank you very much that I can stay at your home for a few days.” Nick smiled friendly and Judy admired his deadpan.

“Just Bonnie, my dear.” Judy’s mother smiled, put a paw on Nicks back and turned to the door. “Come with me, my dear. Take a seat in the kitchen and I will make sure that you get something decent to eat after having those hospital meals.”

Judy took a deep breath and seemed relieved when they walked into the house. Evelin put a paw on her shoulder and refrained her a few steps behind the door. She made sure that Nick was out of earshot, then gestured with her head to Judy that she should follow her. With raised eyebrows Judy walked behind Evelin into one of the smaller bedrooms, that were currently empty.

“What is it, Eve?” Judy asked puzzled.

“I am a little worried about Nick.” Evelin answered. “I think Nick had a panic attack earlier in the car.”

“Oh…” now Judy was worried, too.

“Maybe the whole situation is getting to him. Do you think he is still afraid about Mom and Dad?”

“Mh…” Judy considered this for a moment. “It is not being afraid of them doing harm to him physically I think. But it is hard for him to let anyone get close. He’s dubbing it quite good most of the time, but that is mostly masquerading.”

“Okay, we will take one step at a time then. Dinner with all of us together could be a little overwhelming for the first day.” Evelin smiled and Judy nodded agreeing.

“Good idea, thank you Eve.” Judy gave her sister a kiss on her cheek.

“For you always, Juju” She smiled, then they left the room and walked to the kitchen, where Nick was sitting on a chair and Bonnie was serving him some blueberry pancakes and blueberry ice tea.

“Are you treated well?” Judy asked snickering.

“Very well!” Nick smiled widely with a pancake in his hands.

“I didn’t speak with you, dumb fox.” Judy winked at him and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before he could start to pout.

“He is very well mannered and seems to love my special pancakes.” Bonnie said and smiled proudly.

“Where is Dad?” Judy asked while scrounging a pancake from Nicks plate.

“He is in the fields with the boys. But he should get home in an hour or two.”

“Then I will help you with preparing diner.” Judy offered eagerly, but Bonnie shook her head.

“You can show Nick our guest room and arrange yourself. And please put your laundry out, I will make sure it will be cleaned by tomorrow. Maybe you and Evelin could show Nick the most significant rooms in the house, I will take care of diner with your other siblings as usual.” Bonnie smiled.

It took Nick another fifteen minutes to finish his pancakes and they made some small talk in the meantime. Then Judy and Evelin accompanied Nick to the guest room, Annie hopping alongside. After Nick dropped onto the relatively large bed, Evelin took the recalcitrant Annie on her arms.

“You can unpack your backpack first and settle down for a moment. We will pick you up for a small tour in an hour, that’s okay?” Evelin looked at Nick and her sister.

“Great, thanks Eve!” Judy smiled and put the backpack on the floor.

“Thank you, Eve!” Nick replied, and waved a short goodbye to Annie.

When the door was closed behind them, Nick breathed deeply and let himself fall backward onto the bed.

“What’s bothering you?” Judy asked after sitting beside him on the blanket. “And don’t tell me that ‘ _Everything’s okay carrot_ ’-thing again.” She added annoyed but with a soft smile. And when he didn’t say anything: “Do you feel queasy?”

Nick shrugged and smiled awry. “It’s nothing serious, carrots. Your Mom was really nice and your siblings more than ever. Just give me a while to accustom myself to the new situation, okay?” He smiled to her and stroke with his paw her cheek.

“Maybe I can help you to speed up things…” Judy winked with a sly grin. She grabbed his paw and put it down on the bed besides his head, leaning in to kiss him affectionately.


	10. It’s a hustle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How does one collect love, rage, hatred, fear, jealousy, irrationality, or other intangibles? Clues left at a crime scene may be of inestimable value in leading to the solution of a crime; however, they are not necessarily items of physical evidence, per se.” --James T. Reese

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [ ](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio)
> 
> ### The whole series is also made available as an _[audio drama on YouTube](http://bit.ly/ChroniclesOfZootopiaAudio)_ , releasing a new chapter each week! 

_“How does one collect love, rage, hatred, fear, jealousy, irrationality, or other intangibles? Clues left at a crime scene may be of inestimable value in leading to the solution of a crime; however, they are not necessarily items of physical evidence, per se”._ **_James T. Reese_ **

* * *

“What are you doing over there, Stu?” Bonnie asked when she saw her husband standing in the hallway near the guest room door, twitching his ears with concentration. Stu winced and turned around to his wife.

“Nothing, my dear!” he offered with a wide and innocent smile, but Bonnie shook her head disappointed.

“You are not even five minutes back in the house and you are already spying on your daughter?”

“Not spying, hon!” Stu raised his paws in defense and smiled awry. “Just… making sure everything is okay”.

“She is a grown-up, let her have some privacy with her boyfriend”. Stu winced again at that word and Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Better get accustomed to this word, who know when it will be replaced by fiancé”. She walked back to the kitchen while talking and couldn’t see the look on Stu’s face. He hurried after her, hugged her and gave her a kiss.

“You are right, Bon”. Stu smiled softly, but his nose twitched a bit. “Did everything go well when they arrived?”

“Yes, he was really nice”. Bonnie replied his smile and stirred some vegetable stew. “I admit that it was a bit awkward at first, I did not know what to say. But he did not seem to have any reservations and everything went all right”. She appeared assuaged and patted her husband’s arm. “You will meet him at dinner, my dear”.

“Well, I’d better start laying the table then”. Stu gave his wife a quick kiss and hurried to the cupboard.

“Evelin asked that we also use the smaller dining room, so we can sit together with Nick and Judy and only a few of the other siblings he already knows. She feared it could be too much on the first day with all of the family eating together”, She smiled. “I think that is a good idea, Eve really thinks about everything”.

“Hmmm, well, okay. If you think so.” Stu agreed with some hesitation and picked up the dinnerware. “Miriam, Rodney, Mike, can you help me lay the tables, please?” he shouted and shortly after three pairs of feet hopped down the hallway.

* * *

Nick lay on his back on the bed with his shirt opened. Judy sat on his lap and her paws ran over the bandage that covered his wound. She sighed and laid herself beside him, her arm around his torso, and rubbed her chin over his chest. Nick smelled her scent left on his fur, tickled her head around the ears and closed his eyes.

“Nick?” Judy spoke quietly.

“Mh?”

“Can we talk about something?”

“Of course, what is on your mind, carrots?”

Judy thought for a moment, then began: “I want to confess something to you, but…” she was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. “Cheese and carrots!” she murmured, then loudly said “Come in!” While she straightened up on the bed.

Evelin put her head through the door and grinned when she saw them both lying on the bed. “Are you ready for the short tour, Nick?” The fox hesitated and looked to Judy, who just waved aside.

“It’s okay, I will unpack our backpack in the meantime. We can talk later”. She smiled and Nick gave her a kiss, just long enough for her to be sorry that her sister was waiting at the door. Nick got up from the bed, hobbled to the desk that his crutches were leaning against, and walked with them to Evelin.

“If she doesn’t bring me back in half an hour, send a search party after us”. He winked, but then said somewhat more serious: “I love you, Judy. See you later”.

“See ya’!” she smiled softly and then opened their backpack while Evelin supported Nick on his right side and walked away. Their talk would have to wait for a while then.

* * *

“Most of our smaller bedrooms are belowground, the burrow is about 30-meters-deep with about 40 rooms on each of the three floors. Our smallest siblings live with four rabbits in one room, and when they get older we reduce it to two or three in one room. Only a few of us adults have their own room”. They walked past a few doors and two stairs going down. “Here on the ground floor are all of the common rooms like the kitchens, dining rooms or the living rooms with TV’s or large tables; the guest room and Mom and Dad’s bedroom are also on this floor. And here…” she opened the door at the end of the hallway “…is one of our bigger bathrooms with a shower and a bathtub. Most other bathrooms on the floors below only have a shower”.

“Wow”, Nick was visibly impressed. “This really is a monstrous structure”.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you half of it”, Evelin winked. “On the lowermost floor we have a lot of storage rooms with enough food to feed the whole burrow for at least a few months. We also have access to a groundwater depot there. On the second floor below we also have a steam sauna beside the lodgings, and on the first floor are also some studios and a workshop for different professions, like a tailoring studio or a music room with a few instruments”.

“You’re kidding me?”

Evelin laughed enjoying herself, Nick really looked puzzled about their burrow. “No kidding, we have our own small town below Bunnyburrow, and not all of us follow in our parents’ footsteps in farming”.

“That is really impressive!”

“Yepp. Come on, I will show you our main living room. Mom and Dad sit there in the evening most of the time, together with most adult children”. They walked around a few corners and through two doors. In a few places it was difficult for Nick to edge through the rabbit sized corridors, even more so with his crutches. But they finally stood in a really big room with a dozen couches and armchairs, two chimneys and a few wooden tables. Along the walls were shelves with books, a big TV, audio equipment and sideboards with board games. There was also a lot of photos of the whole family around the wall, like one really big family tree all together with partners and grandchildren; only letting someone adumbrate what the wallpaper of the room is.

A few younger bunnies were playing cards in one corner of the room and only looked up briefly, waving to Nick and Evelin, when they entered the room. Nick became wide-eyed, letting his looks wander around.

“This is…” he started and Evelin continued.

“Amazing?”

“More or less”, Nick nodded slowly and searched for Judy on the wall. Evelin seemed to have guessed what he was looking for, hopped over to the first chimney and pointed to a picture of Judy after finishing school and grinned.

“I could imagine it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack of strangers”.

Nick scratched his right paw behind his head and smiled. “Let me say, I find it rather difficult to distinguish between all of you, in particular when there are hundreds of photos, and you really know the name of each and every one of them?” Nick said disbelievingly.

“Oh, of course! These are Lisa, Sarah, Laura, Fabian, Jonas, Caroline, Sven, Nina, Julian, Natalie…” Nick rolled his eyes, put his arms up in defense, and Evelin started to laugh. After looking for a while at all the pictures Nick asked:

“Do you have a photo book with their names written below?”

Evelin tilted her head inquiringly. “You really want to learn all those names? There are over three hundred of them, you know that? Not counting all the grandchildren that is!”

The fox shrugged and took a seat in one of the armchairs. “The least I can do is try to learn as many of them as I can. It is Judy’s family, and how can I start to be a part of it when I’ve not even tried to learn your names”. Nick looked serious about this and Evelin noticed how he silently repeated the names she had already told him while memorizing the corresponding photo. Now she really understood what Judy values about him, and a smile was on her face.

“I will see to it that I make a photo book ready for you, Nick”.

“That would be great, thank you very much Eve!” then after a quick thought: “But don’t tell Judy about it, I want to surprise her”, he winked and Evelin nodded smiling.

 “That is a great idea, she will certainly appreciate it, I’m sure”.

“Appreciate what?” Judy walked into the living room with an inquiring look on her face.

“When Nick is resting, so you two can live it up later in your room”, Evelin slyly grinned.

“Ha. Ha”. Judy answered but her ears were getting slightly darker from the blood. “And, how was sightseeing?” she addressed Nick while sitting on the arm rest of his chair.

“This isn’t a house, it’s a town of its own!” Nick’s admiration was clearly audible and Judy smiled.

“It’s just a burrow”.

“Well, it is the first one I’ve seen from the inside, and even after visiting only a small part of it, I think it’s gigantic!”

Evelin snickered and nudged Judy with her hip. “Do you remember? When we played hide and seek as kits?” Then she turned to Nick. “Judy always wanted to count and search for us, disguised as a cop, and acted like she was trying to find criminals”.

Judy smiled softly. “Yeah, catching criminals was fun back then”. Nick shared a quick look with Evelin, who understood and made a quick excuse: “I have to help Mom with dinner, you’ll see us at six!”

When Evelin was gone, Nick put his arm around Judy and pulled her onto his lap. “Hey, carrots. What’s the matter? You seem to be quiet distracted lately”. He put his snout between her ears and lost in thought he left his scent on her. The rabbit sighed and put her arms around him, hugging him firmly.

“I can’t get this zooicide case out of my head. There is some quite strange evidence, but I have no idea where it all leads, and the alleged criminal, a wolf, is sitting in jail and I’m unsure if he is really guilty”.

“Then maybe you should share the details with your partner. Perhaps he has an idea or two on how to proceed”, Nick smiled and gave her a soft kiss.

“You should not rush things and…”

“…take it easy, I know carrots!” Nick sighed with a smile and put a paw on her arm. “I only have a casted leg and arm; my brain is as healthy as always and a case to ponder about would be a welcome distraction”.

Judy thought about it for a while and tickled through Nick’s chest fur. “When I get the reports from the forensic lab and the forensic medicine we can browse through the case file together, okay?” she finally suggested, and Nick nodded. “Great idea. But for today you have to stop thinking about it then, deal?”

Judy smiled at him and gave him a short kiss on his lips: “Deal”. Then she huddled against him, stroking his arm with her paw.

“By the way, what did you want to talk about earlier?” Nick looked inquiringly, but Judy shook her head.

“Not here, let’s talk about it in private”.

The fox was a little anxious, Judy had been behaving differently since they were back in her parents’ house, and wanted to talk about something she wanted to confess to him? And only in private? His thoughts were tumbling until Judy put her paw onto his and squeezed it a bit, looking up at him.

“It’s nothing serious, you don’t have to worry”. Judy tried to put his mind at ease, but it only worked a wee bit. Nick was sure that something was bothering Judy, and he was also quite sure that it wasn’t the case as she had said. But at the moment he could do nothing but wait for her to open up.

* * *

For the evening meal, Nick and Judy sat with her parents, Evelin and Ralph in the small dining room.  Nick was apologizing for the third time that they did not have to lay a separate table only for him, and he didn’t want to create any circumstances. Bonnie waved his protest aside.

“One bunny at a time, honey. You have to accustom yourself to such a big family first, it would be a little overwhelming on your first evening, and it’s really no task, Evelin and Ralph laid the table really quickly”.

“Six place settings are nothing when you are used to forty times that many”, Ralph laughed and passed the small basket with fresh bread to Judy.

“I heard Stephanie cancelled her holiday trip to Nageria!” Evelin started to talk and her Mom nodded.

“Yes, her husband was at the market stand today and told Miriam about it”. Then she addressed Nick: “Stephanie is also one of our children, but she left the burrow after her wedding last year”. She patted Stu’s back, who had choked on something and coughed.

“Did he tell her why? As far as I know she was really eager to make this trip”. Judy asked while passing the plate with vegetable wraps to Nick.

“Yes, she is pregnant again! Isn’t that great news?” Bonnie beamed and now it was Judy’s turn to cough.

“It’s her third litter, isn’t it?” Evelin asked, and her mother nodded.

“Yes, and the first two were rather big, each with ten kits!”

Nick dropped his fork by accident and murmured a quiet excuse, but Ralph caught his gaze and smirked: “I believe our guest is wondering, how many litters and kits there are in an average rabbit family”. He winked at Nick whose ears drooped, but Bonnie answered eagerly.

“Oh, that really depends on environment, Nick. Most families try to not exceed one or perhaps two litters a year. But also the size of a litter varies, some rare litters only have one or two kits. But the average is four to six; and sometimes even more than a dozen. But that’s very rare”. Nick and Judy were staring at their plate and chewing slowly on their vegetable wraps. But of course, her mother could make things more awkward.

“We, for example, currently have 47 litters, right Stu?” She looked to her husband who was normally really proud of their family size.

“Yeah, I guess...” he twitched with a napkin and sounded uneasy at the moment. But of course a mother knows how to make things even more awkward than that, and Bonnie was no exception.

“Are you planning on having some kits, too?” she addressed Nick and Judy with an innocent look.

“Mom!” Judy exclaimed and this time her ears appeared soft red because of embarrassment. Nick and Stu started coughing heavily at the same time and even the white spots in Nick’s ears got a pink touch. Evelin and Ralph looked at each other and could barely hold their laughter. Only Bonnie looked perplexed.

“Did I say something funny?” she raised her eyebrows.

“Everything’s fine, Mom…” Evelin was snorting with laughter and already had tears in her eyes.

“Then why are you all acting so funny? At least it’s the first time she’s brought a b…”

“MOM!” Judy shouted and the panic in her voice was not missed by anyone at the table. Evelin and Ralph totally lost it and leaned on each other to not fall off their chairs while laughing. Stu leapt up from his chair, nearly knocking over his plate.

“I’ll get the dessert!” he murmured and vanished through the door. Judy just wished the earth would swallow her up; she delved her head into her folded arms on the table. Nick sat still on his chair and stared blankly at his plate.

“Oh come on, we are all adults!” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “You are acting childish, Judy. And you two are not any better!” she added with a look to Evelin and Ralph who were still giggling.

“Anybody hungry for some strawberry cake?” Stu entered the room again with a big baking tray.

“Here!” Judy and Nick called relieved like from one mouth.

* * *

During the dessert they didn’t talk a lot except for compliments for Bonnie and her great baking skills. As it transpired, Nick was also a big fan of the Hopps’ strawberries and he ate three pieces of cake to emphasize this fact. Judy only ate half a piece; she wasn’t really that hungry and Nick was pleased to take care of the other half. When everybody finished their plates Evelin wanted to get up to clear the table, but Nick asked her to sit down again. All looks were suddenly focused on him, and the fox felt a bit queasy again. Judy smiled and supported him.

“We have brought you a small present, nothing fancy”. She addressed her parents and her voice was a bit higher than usual. Nick grabbed for the paper bag that stood between his legs. When he took out the first present, the nicely packed frame with the photo of Judy after the race, his paws were a bit shaky. He handed it over to Stu and while he was curiously unpacking it, all other rabbits beside Judy were standing around him, looking over his shoulder.

“Oh! Jude the dude! That is a really great photo! Bonnie, look at her! Isn’t she a born star?” Stu was beaming with pride, even more so when he saw the medal. “Oh, but honey! You earned this medal, you don’t have to put it inside the frame for us!”

Judy smiled and put her arm around Nick’s. “I still have my medal, it’s Nick’s copy, he made this for you two!” She looked up to her fox and smiled proudly; Stu stared at them.

“Really! That’s … that’s …” he looked seeking help from his wife.

“That’s a wonderful idea, thank you so much Nick!” Bonnie completed her husband’s sentence, who nodded keenly.

“Absolutely! Thank you!” Stu was the first to get off his chair, then Bonnie. They both hugged Nick who was smiling relieved.

“I thought what the most beautiful present would be. And then I thought: What could be more beautiful than Judy and her fist pump after winning the race”. His voice was also a little too high, but he smiled pleased.

“It’s not Judy winning, it’s Judy being happy! And winning makes her happy”. Stu snickered and Bonnie nodded smiling.

“Stu is right, to know that Judy is happy is the most important thing for us”. She beamed and looked moony at her daughter.

Evelin and Ralph just grinned from ear-to-ear, looking at Judy who was nearly as embarrassed as she was a short time ago. Nick poked his rabbit with his elbow, he thought it would be better if she handed the other picture over to her parents. She looked up at him and his pleading look made a dent. She took the paper bag and pulled out the second, unpacked frame with the back facing her parents.

“Actually, we have another one for you”. She began and her paws were lightly shaking; when Nick noticed it, he put his paw on one side of the frame and assured her with a look full of affection. She nodded slightly and handed the frame, photo facing up, to her mother.

Silence. Twenty-One. Twenty-Two. Twenty-Three. Twenty-Four. Twenty-Five. Judy and Nick held their breath for just a few seconds, but it felt like minutes.

Finally, her mother broke the silence: “Oh, honey!” her mother’s voice was all emotional and even Stu looked happy and put his paw on Bonnie’s shoulder. “This photo is the most beautiful picture I’ve ever saw of you!” she tried to suppress a sob.

“Yes, it is indeed!” Stu added no less emotional. “I never saw my little princess happier than in this photo. Thank you!” and with these words he hugged Nick firmly; Bonnie nodded in the background and twitched with a handkerchief.

* * *

They sat together at the dining table until nearly 11 o’clock at night. Evelin shooed her parents, Nick and Judy away as she and Ralph cleaned everything up. The two older rabbits quickly disappeared into their own bedroom after wishing everyone a good night.

Nick was lying on the bed when Judy entered their guest room after a short shower. She had a large towel around her body and looked as tired and relieved as he did.

“It all went better than expected, didn’t it?” he asked with a soft smile, and Judy threw herself onto the bed beside him.

“Yepp. Definitely better than expected”. She smiled, too, and turned her head to him; their nose tips touched and both snickered quietly. They lay there in silence for nearly ten minutes, just looking into each other’s eyes.

“Nick?” Judy asked finally and broke the magical mood.

“Mh?”

“I wanted to confess something to you…” Nick didn’t reply but looked affectionately into her eyes. Judy sighed: “But I don’t dare”. She nibbled on her bottom lip and looked a bit worried.

“Judy”. Nick aspirated her name with a smile, and a shiver ran down her spine. “I just survived my first dinner with your parents in a burrow, and I’m still with you. Nothing you could say would change my feelings for you”. He kissed her slowly and softly on her lips and Judy sighed smiling.

“I was always so fixated on becoming a police officer”. She started, but then hesitated. Nick wanted to reply something, but sensed it would be better to let her just talk for the time being. After a few moments she continued. “All my brothers and sisters were going to parties and having so much fun, but I just worked to earn some money and studied for my biggest goal”. Nick assured her by caressing her head and ears with his paw. “Now that I reached my goal, my priorities shifted and… I have the feeling that I missed so much and really am just a dumb rabbit in so many ways”.

“You are not a dumb rabbit”, Nick said with a smile. Judy sighed again.

“Yes, I am. You are…” she swallowed, but decided it was finally time to confess this part of her to Nick. “I’ve never had a boyfriend before you, Nick”. She looked as if she had just announced the death of a near relative and her whole body was shaking slightly. Nick looked somewhat surprised; he had never thought about those things. He loved Judy the way she was, why would something so trivial matter by any means?

“Hey…” he put his paw below her chin and lifted it to meet her gaze. “I don’t know how I, out of all other mammals earned your love, but I’m honored.” Nicks’ voice was gentle and Judy sobbed quietly.

“You are not disappointed? For a rabbit this is really odd and unusual, you know”.

He smiled and leaned in to kiss her. “Well, I’m obviously no rabbit. Why should I be disappointed when you are the best thing that’s happened to me in my whole life? Don’t ever think about it this way again”. Judy laughed sobbing and hugged him firmly; Nick could hardly breath but it didn’t matter in this moment and he returned her hug.

* * *

The next morning Judy woke up, had a stretch and gazed directly into Nick’s eyes.

“Huh! Since when are you awake even before me?” Judy seemed puzzled and searched for her phone to take a look at the clock. Nick grabbed her paws and gave them a kiss.

“It’s quarter past eight, carrots”.

Judy’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. “Why didn’t you wake me up; I’m already late!” She jumped out of the bed but Nick smiled.

“You looked so cute while sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you up”.

Judy poked her tongue out at him and the fox laughed.

Half an hour later they sat in the smallest of the three kitchens, the one that had the malfunctioning oven the morning before. It was still big enough for at least a dozen rabbits to work at the same time, but currently only Evelin and Miriam were here, preparing the lunch packs for the market booth. On the table there was already a basket with gems and bread, plates with cheese and butter, marmalade, a cup of tea for Judy, and a cup of coffee for Nick.

“What is your schedule for today, sis?” Miriam asked looking at Judy, who was eating some bread with self-made marmalade.

“I will go to the police station and pick up some reports, then I wanted to work from home”.

“This zooicide is really tragic, poor John. I think he will sell the carpentry shop, now that his father is dead”. Evelin chatted but Miriam shook her head.

“I don’t think that he is in mourning, he often argued with his father and they say the old Aaron Leep was a drunkard”.

“Did you or any other one of us have close contact with the Leeps recently?” Judy asked, sipping on her cup of herbal tea.

“Not that I know of”, Miriam replied and packed the lunches into a basket. “I will bring those into the truck”. She walked with the lunch basket in her paws out of the kitchen.

“Did you find the source of the gunpowder scent, carrots?” Nick asked curiously.

“Nope, I did have another look at the workshop yesterday, but couldn’t find anything. You are sure about the scent, aren’t you?”

“That hurts me, carrots!” Nick put his right paw over his heart and pouted.

“Okay, okay. I just wanted to be sure”. Judy winked, but Evelin turned around and asked surprised.

“What do you mean with gunpowder? I read in the newspaper that Aaron was stabbed?”

“Yes he was. But after I spent a few hours investigating the workshop, Nick could smell gunpowder on me. So it had to be in the air, even if I could not smell it”, Judy stated while biting into her second slice of bread.

“You could really smell this?” Evelin looked at Nick impressed.

“Well, foxes have a very acute sense of smell, and gunpowder has a real tang”, Nick replied with a smile. “It’s also useful during an interrogation; with some exercise you can distinguish if a suspect is afraid or calm, and then deviate if he is lying or telling the truth. It’s not a hundred percent accurate, but it’s a useful utility”.

“Wait a minute, you can really smell if someone is lying or not?” Evelin looked skeptical.

“This, and a lot more. But I usually try to suppress my sense of smell in large groups of animals, it’s an extreme and uncomfortable mix of all different scents”.

“Are you saying that we smell musty?” Evelin put her paws on her sides and stared icily at him. But Nick was used to her humor by now and slyly smiled.

“I’m saying that a few hundred rabbits in a burrow are odiferous for a fox. More than ever when at least half a dozen of them are currently in heat”.

Judy, who already knew about Nick’s olfactory skills, just smiled softly, but Evelin dropped her jaw wide open and gazed at Nick, then at Judy.

“Did you know that?”

“Of course, sis”, Judy winked at her.

“That’s incredible!” Evelin gasped.

“It’s boon and bane”, Nick smiled and sipped from his coffee, then he turned to Judy. “Don’t forget, that we want to go through the case file together, carrots”.

“You two are made for each other; obviously neither of you has ever heard of a thing called ‘leisure time’”, Evelin rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you certified unfit for work, Nick?”

“I am, but just reading a few reports and looking at photos will not kill me”.

“Give up, Eve, he is at least as stubborn as I am”, Judy grinned and finished her breakfast. “Okay, I will take the truck and bring the lunch packages to the market booth on my way back”. With these words she gave Nick a quick kiss and left the kitchen. A minute later the old truck was heard driving away and Nick finished his breakfast, too.

“Do you have any other secret skills I should know about?” Evelin asked while cleaning up the table.

“I can see in nearly complete darkness; does that count?”

“Hide and seek really isn’t fun with you”.

“Oh, I liked to play hide and seek, but not as seeker. I always preferred to hide”, Nick smiled.

“Isn’t that the classical role of the prey? I did not think that you are the subduing partner”.

“Well, yeah I like to… wait, what?!” Nick looked dumbfounded and Evelin snorted, enjoying herself.

“Relax, Nick. I will not condemn you for anything”, Evelin winked and Nick snuffled. “Oh, by the way…” she walked over to a sideboard and took a book out of the second drawer. “This is our latest photo book with all the names and how we are related. The pictures are about a year old, but this should give you a start”. Evelin handed him the photo book and Nick browsed through it with a quick glance.

“Thank you, Eve”. Then, after a short hesitation he said: “May I ask you a personal question?”

“Of course, I can always decide to not answer you”, She winked with a sly grin, which Nick replied.

“Most of the older rabbits seemed to have started their own families. Why do you and Miriam for example still live at home?”

“We both have a boyfriend, my dear. Not all of us are starting our own burrow, but decide to stay with the family. At least until the wedding that is. If you meet a rabbit that is not living with their family, they’re probably already married.” Evelin smiled when she noticed Nick’s look. “Judy is the big exception, no worries”.

“Yeah, I guess so. The first rabbit at the force, and living alone in the big city…”

“…bringing a fox back home as her boyfriend.” Evelin and Nick laughed at once. “Yes, that’s our Judy, and that makes her very special for Mom and Dad. The rest of us are under their supervision most of the time, but not Judy”.

“That’s the reason they gave me a hard time?”

“That, and you being a fox instead of a rabbit.” Eve winked, and when Nick’s ears drooped she added quickly: “Don’t worry, they are beginning to accustom themselves to you. There is only one main concern left as far as I know”.

“And that is?” Nick asked curiously.

“They are really crazy about grandchildren…” Evelin answered with a grin, and when Nick choked on his coffee she nearly screamed with laughter.

* * *

Judy returned about an hour later and searched for Nick. She finally found him at the back of the house sitting on a wooden bench beneath a few trees, reading a book. When she approached him, he put it down and smiled.

“Hey, carrots”.

“Hey, slacker”.

“Pfft, don’t forget that I’m seriously injured”.

“So you are too sick to go over this case file with me?”

“Sly Bunny”.

“Dumb fox”, Judy grinned triumphantly. It was those little games between them, that mirrored the familiarity in their relationship. Some intimacy they could share in the open without anyone noticing and yet it gave them both a nice chill. Judy sat beside Nick and leaned her head against his arm. “How have you been getting along with everybody so far?”

“They are all really nice. I have to admit it feels somewhat awkward after our encounter last Saturday”.

“That was mainly Joshua; he is a dork. Mom and Dad were just taken by surprise and then everything escalated disastrously”, She sighed.

“It’s not your fault, carrots”. Nick put his snout on her head between her ears.

“I let it escalate, and without my fight with Josh you wouldn’t be injured at all”. Judy looked sadly at Nick’s casts and swept her paw over them.

“I’m still alive, carrots, and I still love you. So everything is fine”. Nick smiled, grabbed for his crutches and put the small book into his pocket. “Let’s find us a room, work is always a good distraction for you”.

* * *

They agreed with Bonnie Hopps to arrange themselves in the smallest living room and closed the door, so that someone wasn’t lurking around every now and then. They scattered all the photos onto the table and Judy elucidated Nick all the details she had investigated. The report of the legal medicine clarified, that Aaron Leep died from exsanguination, induced by a stabbing wound into his abdomen. A few sketches exemplified that the wound channel went from above at an angle of 75 degrees. The weapon was a one-sided blade 26 millimeters in width and at least 168 millimeters in length. It broke through the abdominal wall, perforated the small intestine and the subclavian artery; the latter caused a rapid exsanguination and death within less than a minute. The blood alcohol concentration was rather high at 3.6 ‰ and they found Meloxicam, an analgesic, in a considerable quantity. In his fur, mainly his paws, was a black substance found that was sent to the forensic lab.

The reports from the forensic lab in Zootopia identified several types of wood for the slivers. The fiber that Judy found on the wooden fence wasn’t a textile but cellulose with tracks of nitric acid, also known as nitrocellulose. It is highly flammable, but is hardly used anymore. Another substance she found was identified as vulcanized rubber. The black substance found in the fur of the victim was a mixture of Sulfur, Charcoal and Saltpeter, also known as Black Powder or Gunpowder. The last sample was a powder she found between those sketches and papers in the drawer of the workbench. It was a mixture of Sulphur, Sulphide of Antimony, Chlorate of Potash and Gum. The mixture had a resemblance to those used for friction matches and is also highly flammable.

“For a carpenter, this rabbit handled quite a lot of explosives”, Nick said with a frown. “Maybe he was a bomber and he was killed for this reason”.

“A bomber here in Bunnyburrow?” Judy sounded skeptical.

“Well, it would be a great camouflage, nobody would expect something like this”.

“Maybe, but it still sounds very unlikely to me”.

“Okay, but you said there was a long lasting conflict with his neighbor. Maybe he wanted to assault him or his bakery with a bomb, and Frank Tailor killed Aaron Leep in self-defense”.

“And why did Frank Tailor not plead that he had to act in self-defense? No, that doesn’t make any sense at all, Nick”.

Nick browsed through the cluttered reports and picked up the one from the legal medicine, searching for the sketches the Coroner made. “The wound channel went from above at an angle of 75 degrees…” Nick voiced under his breath and seemed to be contemplative.

“What are you thinking?”

“This angle of seventy-five degrees is odd”. He let his looks wander. “Do you have a ruler or a pencil or something similar?” Judy went to a sideboard and took out a paper knife.

“Something like this?” she asked with a smirk.

“Perfect! Okay, now pretend that you are stabbing me…”

“Only pretend?”

“Cheeky bunny…” Nick snorted and turned around facing Judy, so that she could put the stub paper knife on his shirt. “That would be more of a 105-degree angle”.

“Yes, because I’m smaller than you. Let’s switch roles!”

Nick looked at her with a seductive smile. “But we are still working, carrots!”

“I will get back to that offer at a later time”, Judy winked and Nick took the paper knife with a wide grin. Then he pretended to stab her and considered the angle of the knife.

“That is approximately 75 degrees”. He finally said, looking back at some other report papers.

“Well, then the results match the evidence. Why are you still discontent about it?” Judy glanced over at him with an inquiring look.

“Because of this!” Nick handed the sheet of paper he was reading to Judy and pointed his paw to a specific row.

“Frank Tailor’s height is 207 centimeters, so what?”

“The victim Aaron Leep was about your height, but Frank Tailor is nearly fifty centimeters larger than me. If he had stabbed him, the angle would have been more tapered”.

“Mh…” Judy considered Nick’s thought.

“And another thing that bothers me: There are no defense wounds on Aaron Leep. Don’t you think a rabbit would try to defend himself against an offender with a knife, especially when he has a conflict with him?”

“Don’t forget, that he was heavily drunk. Maybe he couldn’t defend himself”.

“And the Meloxicam? He was bleeding to death within less than a minute, so he took them before. But he had no other injuries that needed pain killers, much less a strong one like Meloxicam”.

“What are you indicating, Nick? That he knew that he would be hijacked and stabbed so he took them in advance? That’s ridiculous”.

“Not necessarily; consider the large angle of the wound channel”. Judy took the paper knife again and held it at a 75-degree angle. Nick put his own paw on hers and turned it around, so now the paper knife was pointing to herself in the exact right position to match the sketches of the legal medicine. “See?”

Judy appeared irritated. “He stabbed himself to death?”

“Apparently, yes”. Nick sat down with a smile on an undersized chair and Judy studied the report and sketches again. Then she slowly asked:

“And you think, that his son John found him, took the knife and put it in Frank Tailor’s storage to incriminate him?” Judy sat on another chair beside him. “So now we are not talking about a zooicide, but a suicide and a follow-up concealment and a conspiracy to incriminate the Tailors?”

“Maybe, but that will not explain all those explosives. But either he stabbed himself or someone only slightly larger than him did”.

There was a knock on the door and Evelin put her head through the door. “Lunch will be ready in about fifteen minutes, okay?”

“Okay, thanks Eve”. Judy said with a quick smile but immediately put her nose back to the papers in front of her and Nick. Evelin closed the door behind herself and Nick murmured something.

“Did you say something?” Judy turned her head slightly in Nick’s direction and the fox sighed quietly.

“You don’t want to know, fluff”. He smiled awry, but now Judy’s ears straightened up and pointed in his direction, as always when she was at full attention.

“Now more than ever! What’s the matter, Nick?”

“It’s my olfactory sense again, nothing to worry about”. Nick tried to talk himself out of this, but Judy was still gazing at him, waiting for an answer. “Well, okay! It’s because of Evelin. She had … copulated with another rabbit recently”. Nick’s voice was almost down to a whisper. Judy snapped her eyes open and clapped her paws over her mouth, Nick just nodded with a smile. “Yeah, you bunnies are really great at multiplication”. Judy boxed against his arm and snorted with laughter.

“Okay, I will chaff her about this after lunch!” she grinned and Nick grabbed his crutches.

“For all I care, but let’s go to dinner before”, He winked and at the same time his stomach was growling on command.

They took dinner together this time with all the others. Almost everyone had seen or talked with the fox before, so there was no awkward incident and Nick gave rave reviews to the food again. As it seems he was a big fan of the plain fare, only being used to the fast food he had in Zootopia.

* * *

After lunch, Judy and Nick distanced themselves rather quickly and poured over their case again until late in the evening. In the meantime, Ralph brought them a big tray with sandwiches and a pitcher with ice tea. It was already dark outside when Stu and Bonnie knocked and entered the room. Judy and Nick stretched themselves.

“What time is it?” Judy asked while rubbing her eyes and Nick yawned.

“It’s time to call it a day, hon”. Her mother answered smiling and handed each of them a small plate with a piece of carrot cake.

“Thanks Misses Hopps, this looks delicious!” Nick eagerly picked the cake up and ate a piece of it.

“It’s Bonnie, my dear”. She smiled and Stu added:

“And you can call me Stu, I’m feeling old being called Mister Hopps”, he winked and Judy smiled, starting to eat her piece of cake. Judy’s parents sat down on the other side of the table, shortly looking over the sheets of papers, sketches and photos; but it seemed that they were not too interested in those things.

“Are you making progress, darling?” Stu asked, and Judy raised her eyebrows.

“The going Is tough. But I guess, that’s not what you wanted to talk about, is it?”

“Actually…” Bonnie started and looked at her husband with a smile.

“…we want to show you something”, Stu finished the sentence, also smiling. Nick’s ears straightened up and he looked at Judy somewhat alarmed. The young rabbit shrugged and stood up, as did her parents. Nick took his crutches and then he and Judy followed her parents through the hallway. It was the corridor leading to the biggest living room, if Nick remembered correctly, and sure enough they stood in front of the big double wing door. Bonnie and Stu each grabbed one doorknob and waited for Judy and Nick. Judy’s ears were twitching and a quick smile flit on her lips.

When the two older rabbits finally opened the door, Nick and Judy were greeted by a few dozen other rabbits waiting inside. Some were giggling or murmuring when they saw Nick, but it seemed nearly everybody was smiling.

“This isn’t the moment you are going to bear me down and skin me, is it?” Nick asked with played nonchalance, but Judy could hear his distinct, fast and nervous heartbeat.

“Strewth, no!” Stu said and hugged Nick firmly. “We all wanted to officially welcome you to the Hopps family”.

“And we want to thank you again for saving little Amie”, Bonnie added and the mentioned bunny was hopping across the room and jumped directly onto Nick’s arm, beaming with happiness.

Judy grinned while most of her older siblings were shaking hands with Nick or even hugging him, giving him a heartfelt welcome. Evelin stood a bit aside and waved in her direction. “That was your idea, wasn’t it?” Judy asked her younger sister smiling.

“I thought this was long overdue”, Eve snickered.

“That you had time to organize this between helping Mom and being intimate with your boyfriend”, Judy winked and Eve looked at her in shock.

“You are not supposed to know that!”

Judy wanted to reply something when she caught a glimpse of a photo on the wall, that was now hanging right beside her academy photo: The one with her and Nick together and a few of her siblings. Bonnie put a paw on Judy’s shoulder, who turned her head around.

“We thought, this would be the best place for everyone to see, darling”. Her mother smiled proudly.

“That’s really endearing, Mom!” Judy smiled with tears in her eyes. “Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it, my dear. But this is only a placeholder, don’t forget!” the elderly rabbit winked at her daughter and Evelin grinned knowingly.

Later that evening Judy walked over to Nick again, who was now standing right before the wall with the picture of Judy and him. “ Had enough of shaking hands already?” she snickered.

“More than enough, carrots”, Nick sighed tired but also smiled in a good mood, putting his arm around his rabbit and looking at their picture.

“You know what that means, right?” Judy smirked slightly.

“That I am now officially allowed to date you?” Nick leaned over and kissed Judy between her ears. “And maybe even kiss you?”

Judy snickered and pointed with her nose to some other pictures. “Take a closer look at those pictures, maybe something will catch your eye”, She winked and watched Nick look at the photos surrounding hers. After a while he said:

“I don’t know most of those bunnies, but they seemed to be grouped by families”.

“Yepp. By their own families. A photo of you being right beside mine is clearly a hint from my parents”.

It took Nick a few moments to let that information sink in. Then, suddenly, his look changed to a somewhat puzzled one. Judy grinned and gave him a push with her hip.

* * *

The next morning Judy and Nick had a quick breakfast with the last dozen or so other rabbits that were a bit late. Bonnie and Evelin shooed them away so they could clean up the room and after a short walk around the house to get some fresh air, the two Zootopia Officers were sitting down on the same wooden bench beneath some trees where Judy found Nick yesterday morning.

“This case is really dodgy. Our evidence is ambiguous at best; and it seems our only suspect could not have done it”, Judy sounded frustrated.

“I have an idea, carrots. But it might sound out-of-the-box”, Nick said slowly.

“There seems to be nothing ordinary about this case, so … go on; I’m listening”. She encouraged him, hopping from the bench and sitting in front of him in the grass.

“I got this idea because of the Nitrocellulose you found. It took me a while to remember, but I’ve worked with it previously”.

“You’ve worked with explosives?” Judy raised her eyebrows.

“Not exactly, but I was a conjuror, and as always when it comes to magic tricks, distracting the audience is the most important part”. Judy could visualize Nick as a drafty Thimblerigger and smiled.

“And you distracted them with explosives?” she grinned.

“Dumb bunny”, He slyly winked. “Nitrocellulose is also known as flash paper. Do you know the magic trick where a magician folds a sheet of paper into a rose and with a quick movement of his hand there is a bright flash and he holds a real rose in his hands?”

“Of course…”

 “Well, this isn’t normal paper, but flash paper, or nitrocellulose as it is called technically. A small spark is enough for it to catch fire and it burns rather quickly in a bright flash. Therefore, flash paper. The audience is dazzled only for a very short moment, but that is enough for a conjuror to get the real rose from his sleeve, for example”.

“Okay…” Judy thought for a moment. “But why was Aaron Leep working with flash paper?”

“That is the part where my idea gets off the beaten path. It reminds me of a trick, where you pull a trigger in a room without being there”, Nick winked. “Aaron Leep has experimented with different kinds of easily flammable substances: Nitrocellulose, black powder, and this mixture of sulfur that could be found on quick matches. But disregarding the black powder, the other two aren’t really explosives, only burn rather quickly”.

“An Explosion is nothing more than a sudden and very fast …” Judy wanted to correct him, but Nick waved her objection aside.

“Yeah, I know, carrots! But that is not the point”. They both grinned, but then Nick continued. “Black powder is too powerful, it leaves clearly visible traces. Also, it burns rather slow and hot enough to set other objects on fire. The sulfur mixture is a lot better, but it’s also difficult to process”.

“To Process? Into what?”

“Some kind of cord or thin rope”.

“Okay, now you’ve definitely left me behind”, Judy’s ears drooped.

“Let’s suppose you are an old, crabby rabbit, full of rage, hatred, jealousy and fear”.

“I get the idea, Nick”. Judy made an impatient gesture with her paw.

“You are tired of battling with your neighbor and tired of your life overall. There is a life insurance policy that could provide security for the only one that is still besteading you, but if you kill yourself it won’t pay. So you not only decide to kill yourself, but you want to frame another one as guilty, and why not your long-time nemesis, your neighbor Frank Tailor. Perhaps it would be easier to mock a deadly accident, but bringing your enemy to jail is a much greater satisfaction. You just have to hustle him!”

“You decide to stab yourself with a kitchen knife that you stole out of the storage from the bakery. The lock of the window is no real barrier; as a carpenter you know exactly how such things are built. But using only the knife is not enough. It has to be hidden back in the storage room after the deadly act. You cannot ask anybody to assist you, but after the stabbing you will be too weak to bring it back. Also, the trail of blood would be perfidious. But you are really creative and think of a contraption to move the knife afterwards back to the storage room, then let all evidence of it vanish”.

Judy was hanging on Nick’s every word, but now she decided to interrupt him. “Until now this sounds very plausible, but how can you move the knife over the fence, back into the storage room, and then dispose of everything, all while you are bleeding to death?”

“This is the moment where we remember the flash paper. As you can fold an rose out of it, you can also twist a thin but robust enough cord. The kitchen knife has a hole at its grip to hang it onto your wall. Aaron Leep knotted the flash paper cord to the knife. With another cord of flash paper, that he put around the small hinge of the window like it was a pulley, he has a contraption to move the knife to the window. He takes some strong pain killers and drinks one or two bottles of his favorite booze. Then he goes to his backyard, prepares the towing device made of flash paper, stabs himself with the knife and sinks to the floor. He has no time to lose, he would be unconscious in less than a minute. He pulls on the cord, and the knife makes its way over the fence and when he feels some resistance he knows, that it is at the window. With his last ounce of strength, he ignites the flash paper cord that goes up in flames immediately without leaving any traces. Even the piece that was attached to the knife is gone and the crime weapon dropped into the storage room”.

Nick finished his narration and Judy gazed at him in silence. After a few minutes, she said: “You were right. This idea sounds really out-of-the-box. It could be straight out of those Captain Basil novels!” she winked.

“Ouch, that hurts, carrots”.

“Come on, this is ridiculous!” Judy snickered.

“At least it explains all of our evidence”, Nick pouted.

“Maybe, but if we submit this story, we’ll make a fool of ourselves”. After a while she added. “But I agree with you, that Aaron Leep killed himself and, either with some contraption or with the help of an unknown mammal, placed the weapon of the crime into the storage room of his neighbor. It could not be Frank Tailor: neither the wounds fit, nor does the circumstances that Aaron Leep took a lot of pain killers without needing to and didn’t defend himself or even move after being stabbed”.

“That should be enough to exculpate Frank Tailor from suspicion”.

“I think so”, Judy smiled. “You and your curious ideas…”

“You mean curious ideas like a fox dating a rabbit?”

“Yepp, exactly those”, She winked. “Okay, let’s go back into the house. We have a report to write”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Sean Dalglish for his review and proofreading this chapter! (Mar 2017)


	11. The Vixen (Bonus-Chapter)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s weekend again and Nick was allowed by Doctor Greenwood to travel back to Zootopia. Since the two ZPD Officers also finished their investigation of the zooicide on an old rabbit, resulting in the only suspect - a wolf - being discharged of all accusations, some of Judy’s siblings have a raising mistrust again for the Fox. But taking part for another predator is not the only accusation against Nick that has been told to Judy. And old and unconscious worries are starting to unsettle her again. In the end, it all leads to an emotional outburst between Judy and Nick, their relationship is on a razor’s edge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> [ ](http://zootopiachronicl.es/chapter/1x11.html)
> 
> ### You can find more information about this chapter, the story and the **audio drama** on _[ZootopiaChronicl.es](http://zootopiachronicl.es/chapter/1x11.html)_!

> _“Sure, I can get a little bit jealous. The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It’s also the dangerous part and it’s an ugly emotion that hurts”._
> 
> ___Matthew McConaughey_  

John was waiting in his car outside of the Bunnyburrow police station. He and Joshua were Judy’s two older brothers of their parents first litter and as Judy had to bring back the police motorbike back to town before she left this afternoon with Nick to Zootopia again, he agreed on driving her home. As he was living in his own burrow with his wife and kits a bit out-of-town, this weekend was the first time he got time to visit his little sister and her boyfriend at their parents burrow. Even if he wasn’t as hostile as Joshua against the Fox, he still was rather conservative and reluctant; but at least wanted to give Nick a fair chance. That is, he was willing to until this morning… 

Judy opened the passenger door of his car and sat down in a jovial mood. “Thanks for waiting, Jonny. The Sheriff is a bit talkative, and it was difficult to convince him that Frank Tailor couldn’t be the offender. At least we could prove this, even if we couldn’t solve that case definitely. Hopefully, Chief Bogo won’t be too disappointed” – Judy sounded a bit worried. 

“You’re sure about this, right? I mean, this wolf is not guilty of killing Mister Leep?” John asked while starting the motor and moving off.  

“Yes, of course. We examined all evidence and there are just too many crudities”. 

“You mean that fanciful theory your… partner came up with? Maybe he just wants to take his kind under his wings”. 

“I’m speaking of scientific evidence, John. Nick tried to find an explanation and motive, but even if his theory isn’t likely it doesn’t change the facts. We are both sure, that Frank Tailor is not guilty of the zooicide” – Judy started to sound bugged. “And we are both officers at the ZPD, he never would let a guilty mammal get away just because they are both predators!” 

“If you say so…” John answered with a quick shrug fall quiet. When they drove along the country road, coming closer to their parent's burrow, he suddenly pulled over and stopped the car at the roadside, turning around to Judy. 

“Can we talk about something, Judy?” 

“Sure?” she raised her eyebrows but sighed, guessing he wanted to talk about Nick. 

“But please first listen carefully to me and don’t rage outright, okay?” 

Judy just sighed and her ears dropped, she had hoped to not have another conversation of this kind with her family again. During the last few days, most of her siblings were rather nice to Nick while he stayed at their burrow. But of course she also noted some doubting looks and a few of her siblings took her aside to have a serious talk with her; she always had to assure them that she was trusting him, that Nick was really nice to her and that they really love each other’s and nobody was taking advantage of the other. 

“I know you think that you are in love, sis” John started slowly. “But it’s the first time you are allowing yourself such emotions. It’s only natural to be overwhelmed and to see everything through rose-colored glasses. But you also have to keep in mind, that Nick is after all still a fox and we are rabbits. You cannot trust predators blindly, even in the present age. They feel superior to prey because of their greater power and especially foxes will always try to outwit you.” 

“Oh, shut your mouth, John. I’m really fed up of all those prejudices against predators and foxes in particular! I don’t care what species we are, I love him just the way he is. And he loves me, despite my family partly acting like racists.” 

“I believe you when you say that you are trusting him, Ju. But how long are you together now, a few weeks? How much do you really know about him?” John said, and when Judy wanted to answer something he holds up his hand and continued: “Listen, Judy! I promise that I really didn’t mean to eavesdrop on Nick. This morning I forgot something in my car and wanted to fetch it when I heard someone lingering between the trees. I cocked my ears and could overhear that Fox talking on the phone”. 

“Well, why not? It’s hard to find a quiet spot in the burrow, especially in the morning when everyone is on the go. So if he wanted to talk with someone on the phone, it’s only natural that he went outside for it!” 

“He was apologizing to someone that he was short of time in the last weeks. And he also said that he was working a lot but he still loves her nevertheless. That he was just visiting some friends right now and that she must not bother about him”, John sighed sadly. 

“That … doesn’t mean anything! Maybe he was talking with a friend or even his mother or…” 

“Martha” John interrupted her. 

“What?” 

“He ended the call with ‘I love you, Martha’. You aren’t calling your mom with her forename, are you? Or do you know a friend of him with that name?” 

“Oh please – just quit it, John!” 

“I’m just afraid of you getting hurt, Judy” – he slowly put his paw on her shoulder and smiled softly. “Be careful and not too trustful”. 

“Can we please drive on? I still have some things to do until we drive back to Zootopia” Judy was crossing her arms and turning her head, looking out of the side window. 

John sighed but nodded, starting the motor again. 

* * *

Judy was packing their backpack, being glad for the first time to finally leave the burrow. Up to now, it was always difficult to go back to Zootopia after she had spent a few days for a visit at home. After all, she was missing her family, the country air, the fresh fruits, and vegetables. But the talk with John made it clear once again that it would take quite some time and effort for Nick and her and her family to really get used to each other. 

A phone rang – Nick’s ringtone. He had forgotten his phone on the table when Evelin collected him for a ‘small surprise’ ten minutes ago. Judy hesitated, but as she had to bag the phone anyway for him, she could also have a quick glimpse … the picture of a good looking vixen was visible on his phone, ‘Martha calling’ standing in big letters above it – then the call ended again, and the standby screen showed again with a picture of Judy sleeping on his couch, smiling dreamily. She sighed and with a quick head-shaking, she put his phone into her pocket. Nick wouldn’t cheat on her, John was talking nonsense! She shouldered the backpack and left the guestroom, walking to the living room to search for Evelin and Nick. Her sister had promised to drive them to the station and their train would depart in around 45 minutes. Nick’s phone vibrated in her pocket and she stopped. Should she take a look at the new message? She hated herself for only thinking about it! But then the image of the vixen came back into her mind and she heard John’s voice: “He ended the call with ‘I love you, Martha’”. 

She rolled her eyes and pulled Nick’s phone out of her pocket. He wouldn’t have let it laying around for her to see if he had any secrets within it. And he occasionally had used her phone, too. She switched the display on There was one unanswered call and a new message. She opened the notification center and saw a preview of it: “Thank you again for calling after that long time passed. Maybe we can meet for a coffee? I miss you and …” – it was again from a contact saved as ‘Martha’. 

Judy switched the phone off again. She didn’t know what to think. ‘You have to keep in mind, that Nick is after all still a fox and we are rabbits. You cannot trust predators blindly, even in the present age.’ – it was John’s voice again in her head. Rubbish! Nick wouldn’t … 

“Juju!” it was Evelin, putting her paw from behind onto her sister's shoulder. 

Judy spun around with a surprised facial expression, putting Nick’s phone back into her pocket. “Eve! I was already searching for you.” 

“Yeah, that’s the reason I had to call your name three times until you reacted. Is everything okay?” 

“What? Yes… yes, I’m okay. Just a little bit homesick already”. 

“Come on, they are all waiting outside to say goodbye” Evelin smiled and linked her arm with Judy’s. 

* * *

Judy and Nick were standing at a window of the Zootopia Express and waved goodbye to Evelin and Amie while the train was departing Bunnyburrow. When they sat down again, Nick watched his little rabbit for a while who was looking out of the window, bracing her chin on her paw. 

“You’re missing them already, aren’t you?” Nick smiled softly, putting his paw on her shoulder. 

“Yeah” Judy sighed, “As exhausting they may be, I love each and every one of them”. 

“You have a wonderful family, carrots” 

“They have their bright moments”, Judy muttered and turned around to face him. “You know that I would have confronted them all for you”. 

Nick sighed with a smile, “I would have never demanded something like this from you”. 

“What would have been the alternative?” 

“Carrots…?” Nick sounded a bit confused. 

“Maybe I am just a dumb and callow bunny, but I  _love_  you. I would have confronted an army to be with you. And you are just saying that you would have never demanded this from me? Do you think you are not worthy to fight for?” 

“What’s the matter, Judy? You are talking nonsense…” Nick furrowed his brows and seemed to be puzzled. 

“You always say, that you love me. But what does this even mean for you?  Showing the white feather when it gets a little bit inconvenient? Because even when my parents are now somewhat pacified, there are still some rabbits like PopPop that love nothing better than to flay you alive. And I’m willing to bear up against them – for you! But if you don’t feel the same, if you aren’t willing to stand by me in spite of everything, please say it now. Because I cannot live a charade and…” 

“Oh, shut up Judy…” Nick finally interrupted her with a sad look. “I have no idea what suddenly gave you this impression of me. But I assure you, as long as you are willing to bear with me I will never leave your side from now on.” 

Judy started to sob and smiled a little, rubbing her cheek against his paw. “You really mean it, Nick?” 

“Boy Scout honor” Nick returned her smile and gave her a kiss. Judy put her arms around his body and hugged him. 

 “There, there… you bunnies are so emotional” he said with a light grin and gave her another kiss between her ears, holding her tight. 

“Sorry, it seems as if I’m really a dumb bunny”, she smiled with a sigh. 

“That’s my fortune, who knows if you would bother with me otherwise”, he snickered. 

* * *

It was late afternoon when the train finally passed the outer districts of Zootopia. They would arrive at the main station in just a few minutes and Judy already strapped their backpack when Nick coughed slightly. 

“Uhm… carrots? Actually, I wanted to tell you something, but after your little emotional outburst earlier it wasn’t the right moment to do so”. 

“What is it, foxtrot?” Judy was smiling happily again, all doubts her brothers had tried to persuade her of were gone. She was even feeling a bit guilty that she insinuated Nick those bad and dishonest intentions. 

“Staying in your parent's burrow for the last few days made me think about a few things. And I really appreciate that you never asked me about my own family. The truth is, that I didn’t have a lot of contact with my Mom during the last few years. I would have only disappointed her how I lived and…” – he sighed – “…whatever, I called her this morning. Just wanted to say ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’, or what else you are talking with your Mom about on the phone. Anyway, I told her that I’m arriving today in Zootopia again after a short trip and she asked to meet for a coffee…” 

Judy smiled at him, thinking about the overheard phone call and the received message. She knew that there must be a simple explanation for everything; now she felt even more guilty for only contemplating what John suggested. 

“I will already go home and start to unpack our backpack. You can catch up after your reunion, there is a lot for you two to talk about”. 

“Actually…” Nick started to rub sheepishly his neck, “…I hoped you would accompany me. When I’m going to tell her that I have a girlfriend, I’m sure she wants to get to know you as soon as possible nevertheless. We can just as well get over and done with it right now…?” 

The train arrived on the platform and stopped, and Judy linked her arm with Nick’s, walking to the door with all the other mammals. 

“Well, after you had to meet my whole family this week, I think it’s only fair if I at least meet your mother. She isn’t going to maul me on sight, is she?” Judy giggled but seemed to be a bit nervous nonetheless.  

“To be honest I’m not quite sure how she will react, carrots. But it’ll go off all right, I’m sure”. 

Nick had some troubles to get off the train with his crutches and nearly fell over when a rhino jostled from behind. Judy already wanted to give him a lecture when Nick put his healthy paw on her shoulder and shook his head. 

“Forget about it” he smiled softly and made a short gesture with his head. “Come on, carrots. Let’s go to the front hall. I didn’t arrange a specific place where to meet, just sent her the time of our a…” 

“Nicholas?” a female voice said and Nick paused at once, turning his head around. The vixen was standing beside a beverage vending machine on their platform. She was about Nicks size, wearing a white dress with purple and green flowers. However, even when she was not as young as she was on the photo Nick had assigned to her on his phone, she was still a handsome vixen. 

“Hey, Mom,” Nick said a bit shy and smiled lightly. 

Martha Wilde was already at his side and hugged him with a happy smile. “Oh, my sweet little pompom!” 

“Mom!” Nick said annoyed, definitely not wanting to let Judy know this – or any other – nickname his mother had in petto. 

“I thought you were only slightly injured!” she held her paws on his shoulders and was watching him from the bottom up with a worried look on her face. “You have a broken leg and even a broken arm! How did that happen? And is this a scar above your right eye?” Then she suddenly stopped, scenting the air and then Nick’s fur carefully. 

“Mom, it’s not as worse as it might look” he tried to reassure her, then noticing her different look and her sniffing. After staying a few days in a burrow it would need more than a shower to get rid of the rabbit scent. He quickly became adjusted to it, especially since Judy was his partner on the force and being together with her for half of the day since a few months now. But for his Mom, this heavy scent was somewhat alarming. 

“Were you mugged by some prey again?” she asked worried and a bit daunting. 

“Mom…” 

“Did they do this to you?” 

“No, listen, Mom…” 

“You’re so soaked with this … odd scent, were you held captive by them? Did you escaped?” 

“Mom! Stop it already, none of these things happened! Also, I know how to defend myself by now”. 

A few other mammals had stopped and been looking in their direction. Martha returned their looks bloody cold, then finally noticed the rabbit with a backpack on her shoulders that was standing rather close to them and also watched her.  

“Bugger off!” the vixen snarled in her direction, showing her teeth. Judy’s muzzle twitched nervously and her ears winced, but she wasn’t scared and running away like Martha had expected, just looking with a coy expression up to her son. 

“Mom, that is Judy”, Nick quickly put a paw on his mother’s arm, trying to ease the situation. “I wrote about her in my last mail to you, we go on patrol together”. 

“Oh…” Martha stumbled and her ears drooped. “I thought… err… you didn’t write that she is …”, she hesitated when Nick sighed lightly. 

“Hello, Misses Wilde. It’s nice to meet you”, Judy smiled friendly, made two steps towards the vixen and reached out with her paw. 

A little bit constrained, Nick’s mother turned to Judy again and shook her paw. “Hello, Officer. Nice to meet you, too. Sorry, I’m somewhat out of it because of Nicks injuries. I didn’t mean to be…” – Martha suddenly congealed, her nose twitching slightly. She boggled when she recognized not only the same scent her son had all over his fur, but she could definitely perceive Nick’s scent mark from the small bunny. 

“Toothless croc!” she whispered winced, starring first at Judy, then turned her face to Nick again with wide eyes. “Did you scent marked that bunny, Nicholas?” 

Nick rubbed his neck with his healthy paw and had a crooked smile, “Well…” 

After reeking again the vixen perceived not only the generic scent of rabbits on her son but now recognized a very specific scent that was dominant. “Did she….”, Martha hesitated and looked again at Judy, who was just smiling shyly with back set ears and with the paw searching for Nick’s. “Are you two…?!” she asked bewildered, turning to Nick again. 

“She’s my girlfriend, Mom”, Nick nodded slowly, grabbed Judy’s trembling paw and continued nervously: “We are in a relationship … for quite a while now”. 

Martha and Nick were looking at each other’s eyes in silence. Nobody said a word for several seconds, but for Judy, it seemed like forever. Finally, the vixen took a deep breath and nodded slowly. 

“Maybe we… can have a cup of coffee?” she suggested with a light smile. “It must be tiring to stand with your injuries, Nicholas”. She turned to Judy, “Of course you’re invited, too”. 

* * *

They decided to go into a small café right outside the railway station; Judy went a few meters ahead while Martha braced her son, having some light small talk. The rabbit holds the door open for the foxes to enter and they took a table with a window facing the large station square. 

“What can I get for you, Misses Wilde?” Judy asked while putting down her backpack beside the bench. 

“Oh… just a coffee with some sugar for me. But no need to inconvenience yourself, Miss…?” Martha smiled somewhat but Judy waved with her hand. 

“It’s Judy Hopps, but just call me Judy. And that’s no trouble at all, I’ll be back in a few minutes” she smiled friendly and walked over to the counter. 

Nick had leaned his crutches against a pillar. When noticing the uneasy facial expression of his mother, he sighed: “Let’s get this over with already”. 

“I’m just a worried mother, Nicholas,” Martha said with a soft voice, putting her paw on his. “I confess that I was a little bit skeptical when you wrote me about your plans on going to the police academy. You were always sailing close to the wind with your … businesses. I thought that it was just part of a new hustle”.  

She kept silence for a moment and Nick looked down to the table: “Mom…” 

“That’s okay, Nicholas. You are my son, I will always love you and I settled for your way of life over time”. 

“Oh, thanks…” Nick whispered sarcastically. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy when I was wrong this time! It’s just… that rabbit…” 

Nick turned his head to Judy who was still waiting at the counter and sighed again, this time with a smile. “She showed me that I can be more than just a hustler and was the first one since a long time to put her trust in me, regardless of me being a fox”. 

“Did you put your scent mark on her on purpose?” 

“I think I’m really in love with her, Mom” Nick smiled at her. 

“Does she know…”, his mother began halting. “I mean, what an intimate relationship means to us foxes?” 

“We had… a short talk about it”, Nick said and sighed impatiently. “And she is more than okay with it, rabbits are also quite monogamous, you know?” 

“She really seems to be cute”, the vixen said with a glance to the rabbit who was currently ordering their drinks. 

“Better not call her cute when she is in earshot”, Nick winked with a light smile. “She doesn’t like to be reduced to her appearance. But yes, she is a real cutie”. 

His mother smiled sympathetically but then got serious again. “Judging by your overall scent you were visiting her family? I mean, you are really reeking like you literally followed her into a burrow”, Martha still sounded worried. 

“We were visiting her parents in Bunnyburrow, yes”. 

“And how did they treat you? As far as I know are rabbits quite proud of their big families. They surely were hoping for her daughter meeting another rabbit instead of … you know, a fox”. Martha said quietly, and when her son wanted to object she added quickly: “Don’t get me wrong, Nicholas! Maybe it’s somewhat odd, especially for you, to have a relationship between predator and prey, but I’m really okay with it as long as you both are happy! But it’s difficult to not notice that you brought back a small souvenir from the countryside…”, she nodded in the direction of Nick’s crutches. 

“Well, yes… maybe her parents were somewhat restrained at first, but my injuries aren’t their fault, Mom! It was just an accident when I tried to save one of Judy’s little sisters from being rolled over by a wagon”. 

“You … what?!”, Martha’s eyes grew big. 

“He saved the life of my little sister Amie by dodging her aside. One of our wagons rolled down the hill towards her by accident”, Judy said proudly with a big smile, glancing to Nick. She put a cup of coffee in front of Nick’ mother and a latte macchiato with caramel syrup in front of Nick; then she sat down beside him with a cup of hot chocolate with cream for herself. “You can be really proud of your son, Misses Wilde”, Judy said smiling. 

“Oh, I am!” Martha said with a big smile. “And, please call me just Martha. Maybe you can tell me more about my pompom’s brave deed?” 

Judy snickered with a wide grin and Nick rolled his eyes. “Mom…!” 

* * *

They were sitting together on Judy’s bed, watching the latest episode of the ‘Big Paw Theory’. After the meeting with Martha, they decided to buy a pizza on-the-go and go to Judy’s place. When the show finished, the rabbit lowered the volume of the TV and threw the empty pizza box into the trash bin under her desk. Nick was very quiet since they bid goodbye to his mother, and Judy was wondering why. Their meeting worked out quite well as far as she could judge, much better than Nick’s first encounter with her parents. She sat down on the floor right on the bed and looked up to him. 

“I think your mother is really nice”, she smiled. 

“Thanks, carrots. I think she likes you, too”, Nick smiled somewhat. 

“And still you are looking as if you had dropped a blueberry ice cream cone”, she winked at him. 

“It’s nothing, carrots”, he patted with his healthy paw on the mattress beside him. 

“Nothing is nothing, pompom”, Judy grinned and hopped onto the bed, snuggling up to him. 

Nick narrowed his eyes and snarled quietly at her, “Jude the dude, behave yourself!” 

Judy narrowed her eyes, too, and replied his looks. “I think we need a list of forbidden nicknames, foxtrot!” 

“Agreed, cottontail!” 

They both snickered and Nick put his arm around Judy’s shoulders. 

“What is it that bothers you?” she asked while cuddling against his body. 

“It’s …”, he hesitated, then sighed. “I’m not exactly what you can call a good catch. Your parents probably had a nice rabbit for you as a partner in their mind”. 

Judy groaned: “Nicholas Piberius Wilde!” – he flinched, but she continued. “I thought we had made it clear that I would stand by you, come what may! I love you, Nick. But I’m asking you this only one more time, and I want a definitive answer. Do you love and stand by me, or do you prefer to puss out?” 

The fox was watching her dumbfounded, the little rabbit's facial expression was a wild mix of anger, despair and begging he never saw on her. How should he explain his mother’s concerns she voiced a few hours ago? 

“Dumb Bunny”, he smiled and wanted to hug Judy, but she shoved his arm away for the first time and continued her stare. 

“I asked you something, Nick”. 

Nick sighed and smiled soothing, “Do I love you? Yes, yes I do”. 

She sighed: “Can you be serious, just this once?” 

The Fox slouched his shoulders, for such a small mammal Judy could be really stubborn. “Okay, listen, Judy. My Mom really likes you, and she is okay with our relationship. But she also expressed her concerns regarding your family. She fears, that when in doubt you will finally comply with their wishes, knowing about the strong family ties of rabbits. But there is one thing she doesn’t know”. 

Judy had a dry mouth and looked down, whispering: “That is?” 

Nick put his paw under her chin and pulled her head up until he could look into her eyes again: “You”. 

“Nick…”, she said ruefully smiling. 

“Judy – you never do something halfway, that’s for sure. The moment you said that you love and stand by me, I knew you meant it. And that’s everything I need to know. I love you and will stand by you”. Judy was already teary-eyed and wiped with her paw over her eyes, smiling. “And that’s my last and definitive answer, Miss Judith Laverne Hopps!” he added with a wink and poked her nose with his. 

Judy started to laugh and sob at the same time, holding him tight. After a while she gave him a soft kiss on his cheek, “And your mother really likes me?” she snickered. 

“She thinks that you’re cute”, Nick grinned when Judy groaned and rolled her eyes. “And you know what? She’s absolutely right!” 

“Dumb fox”, Judy smiled and snuggled up to him again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This bonus chapter was until now exclusively available for the audio drama by Sean Dalglish. You can listen to it on YouTube with the link above. I wrote this Bonus-Chapter as a thank-you gift to Sean and all listeners/commenters to the audio drama we are creating and publishing each week. The bonus chapter fills in the gap what happened between Judy and Nick solving their case in Bunnyburrow and arriving back at home again. There is a short comment by Sean at the beginning of this chapter with a message to our listeners and also a short comment from myself at the end. 
> 
> But the story doesn't end here! This is just the first season and you can find more chapters in the following stories:
> 
> Season 2 is way more fun and is deepening on the relationship between Nick and Judy - yes, I’m definitely a shipper of this cute couple! Beside a few crime cases to solve there is also some big family event in Bunnyburrow, Nick has to attend with Judy: <http://archiveofourown.org/works/7451674/chapters/16932631>
> 
> Season 3 has an overall dark mood with quite some drama and emotionally scenes. There is a big background-story evolving during the season that will even continue in the next one. But there are also some light and cheerful parts: Evelin is finally established as a permanent original character, there will be some sports event, a big party and more… We also learn some more details about Nick’s and Judy’s past, mainly as childs: <http://archiveofourown.org/works/8764945/chapters/20091037>


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